


The Winter Yule

by Squippy420



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Aithusas so goddamn cute you guys, Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Arthur Knows About Morgana's Magic (Merlin), Christmas Fluff, F/F, Fluff, King Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), M/M, Morganas a ward? While Arthur is king?? It's more likely than you think, SO MUCH FLUFF, This makes no goddamn sense and I love it, fluff fluff fluff, i do what i want ok, will add tags as I go along
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 88,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27825994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squippy420/pseuds/Squippy420
Summary: It's that time of year again, and Christmas is just around the corner. This is Arthur's first Christmas as King, and he's determined to get it right. As always Merlin and his young dragon Aithusa are focused on helping him.---Christmas is around the corner, and Gwen has spent the last few months mulling over how to properly court Morgana. She wanted to do this just right. So what was the best way to go about doing it? Hmm...(Basically a Christmas Merlin fic that mainly focuses on the characters trying to get through the month of December with a bunch of fluff shoved in there for good measure.)
Relationships: Gwen/Morgana (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 107





	1. 1st December

For most people, winter is a peculiar time of year. The air is nippy and cold, the weather is harsh and unforgiving and there is hardly any work to be done as no crops could grow in the stiff, frozen soil. Yet, despite all this, the people that were walking around, both peasant and noble, were all going about their day with smiles on their faces. Despite the red in their cheeks, despite their thick itchy clothes and despite slippy, frosty ground that was actually quite dangerous to walk on, the hum of excitement in the air was unmistakeable, as people chatted merrily to their neighbours and to the stall owners in the market, all with one topic of conversation on their tongues.

It was still the bitter beginnings of the morning, but the people of Camelot were already up and going about their daily routine. The merry chatter of the market ambled its way into the air, the atmosphere so warm and cheerful that the people hadn’t noticed the cold, sharp wind blowing through.

The castle of Camelot was no different, and in every corridor there were at least two servants chatting to each other, talking about the preparation for the bountiful feast at the end of the month. However, even something as stressful as a preparing a feast wasn’t enough to bring a servant’s mood down, and they could be seen striding down the hallways with smiles on their faces as they attended to their master.

That is, most of the servants. One of them, as usual, had chosen to lie in and deal with the repercussions later. Of course, after managing to sneak in a half-hour lie in, later meant now.

“Merlin!” Came Gaius’ call from the physician’s chambers, “Get out of bed!”

The servant in question groaned, the dim sunlight sneaking under his eyelids. He could hear Gaius cluttering around the room attached to his, but didn’t do anything to get up. Why should he? It was freezing. If Arthur wanted breakfast, he could go get it himself, the stuck-up prat. Content with his resolve, Merlin snuggled back down into his sheets.  
He had spent another minute in blissful silence when a curious purring began. Merlin’s smile only grew wider when he realised who it belonged to.

Sure enough, Merlin began to feel something cold and scaly press into the palm of his hand, cautiously nudging him to make sure he was still alive. Merlin chuckled, opening his eyes slightly to stroke the head of the small creature.

“Hey Aithusa.” Merlin grunted, “Want to get under the covers? Come on, then.”

Merlin lifted the blanket and, with a small chirp of delight, the baby dragon dove under and curled up into Merlin’s chest. The warmth that Aithusa gave only added to the argument of Merlin staying in bed, and so Merlin snuggled up to Aithusa and felt himself slowly slip back into sleep.

At least, that would have been the case if the door hadn’t burst open only a second later to reveal a very flustered and annoyed Gaius.

“Merlin!” Gaius announced as he stormed into the room, “Didn’t you hear me? You need to get out of bed, you’re late enough as it is!”

Merlin groaned and opened his eyes, his vision still slightly bleary from sleep. As he sat upon, he was vaguely aware of Aithusa moving around under the covers and popping out a second later, only to hop on Merlin’s chest and straighten her wings, looking at the window expectantly.

“Sorry Aithusa.” Merlin grumbled, rubbing his eyes with one hand and petting Aithusa with the other, “Your exercise is going to have to wait.”

With that, Merlin shoved Aithusa of his lap, to which Aithusa have an indignant squawk, and climbed out of bed. He hissed as his bare feet touched the floor, the harsh bite of the air almost enough to persuade himself to climb back into bed again.

“Get dressed.” Gaius demanded, throwing Merlin’s clothes at him, “And let’s hope Arthur isn’t awake.”

Merlin sighed as Gaius left the room and, after exchanging a look with Aithusa, at which she cocked her head at, he started getting changed.

“Come on, you.” Merlin gave a soft smile as he tied his neckerchief around his neck, ready for the day, “Let’s go wake up that idiot.”

Aithusa gave a squeal of delight before making herself at home on Merlin’s shoulder. With a quick goodbye to Gaius, Merlin left the room and made his way to the kitchen to collect Arthur’s breakfast.

While on his way to the kitchen, Merlin smiled at the passing servants, who returned his smile with full vigour. The ambient and friendly atmosphere that seemed to be contagious around the castle seemed to cheer Merlin up considerably.

After he had received a scolding from the cook that was alarmingly similar to Gaius’, Merlin collected the breakfast and made his way up to the King’s chambers.

“Shhh” Merlin grinned as he fed a piece of ham to Aithusa, “Don’t tell anybody.”

Aithusa gobbled the ham up happily and burped, a small wave of heat coming out as she did so. Merlin only laughed and rubbed his finger on her nose, enjoying the small purr that came from her chest when he did.

With both his hands occupied, Merlin kicked the door open, leaving it to swing wide as he strode up to the desk and placed the breakfast on top of the paperwork. After that, Merlin walked up to the curtains.

“Rise and shine!” He called as he yanked them open, not caring to warn the figure that was still sleeping in the bed.

“Ugh!” Arthur grunted as he squinted his eyes shut, turning to face the other way, “Gods, Merlin it’s cold! Didn’t you start a fire?”

“What an excellent idea my lord!” Merlin grinned, an idea coming to mind, “Aithusa?”

With a small chirrup, Aithusa glided over to the fireplace and, after gagging a little bit, managed to ignite the piles of logs that were inside. Unfortunately, Aithusa hadn’t actually controlled her fire yet, and so a little more than intended came out. The excess of fire caused a wave of heat to wash over the room, which caused Arthur to groan in discomfort.

“How many times have I told you not to use that lizard of yours?” Arthur exclaimed, throwing his covers off in indignation, “Now I’m too hot!”

“You’re too hot?” Merlin gasped mockingly, ignoring Arthur’s glare, “That just won’t do, Sire!”

With a wave of his hand, the fire was immediately extinguished and, with a bit of manipulation from Merlin, the room plunged to the temperature it was a minute ago. With yet another groan, Arthur dove back under the covers.

“Gods, it’s cold.” Arthur whined. When he heard Merlin laughing at his plight, he turned to glare at him, “Well don’t just stand there, Merlin!”

“Of course, Sire.” Merlin chuckled. This time when he waved his hand, a small fire ignited in the firepit that fit perfectly. 

Arthur clambered out of bed, rubbing his hands, “What are the plans for today?”

Merlin rolled his eyes, “I told you the plans for today last night”

“Then tell me again!” Arthur rubbed his hands for warmth and, when he got to the centre of the room, stretched his arms out and waited patiently for Merlin to start getting him dressed, “Well?”

Merlin sighed and fetched Arthur’s clothes from the private screen that was tucked away in the corner of Arthur’s chambers. After he had done that, he started reciting what he had told Arthur last night, “There’s training in the morning, and then in the afternoon there’s a council meeting where you have to decide the theme of this year’s festival.”

Arthur groaned and Merlin tugged his chainmail on, “Why do I have to decide what the theme is?”

Merlin raised an eyebrow, “Because you’re the King?”

Arthur sighed, “Why do I have to do it? Surely Morgana or one of the other ladies would be more capable of choosing a better theme than I am.”

“Then maybe you should consult Morgana on the matter before the meeting? You’ve got about enough time before you need to be out on the field.” Merlin suggested.

“That’s not such a bad idea, Merlin.” Arthur squinted at him suspiciously, “Cast a good-idea spell on yourself, did you?”

“No.” Merlin huffed, “I talked to Gaius about it last night.”

Arthur laughed as Merlin fastened his chainmail. Then, when Arthur saw Merlin trying to hold back a smile, his glare once more turned suspicious, “And what are you smiling about?”

“Nothing, Sire.” Merlin said with mock seriousness, trying desperately to try and hide the tint of laughter in his voice. Behind Arthur, Aithusa was now perched on the table and eating all of Arthur’s ham. Before Arthur could get the chance to look behind and catch Aithusa red-handed, Merlin leapt to distract him, “So, while you’re talking to Morgana about Winter Wonderlands and Serenading Snowfields, I’ll go take everything down to the training grounds?”

“Off course.” Arthur nodded, “Unless you wanted to help discuss the theme? I’m sure you’re enough of a girl that this type of thing is important to you.”

“Very funny.” Merlin deadpanned as he stepped away from Arthur, who was now dressed in his armour. As Arthur turned and made his way back to the desk, Merlin saw Aithusa slink across the floor, crawl up his leg and onto his shoulder, her mission complete.

“You’re dismissed.” Arthur called out as he took the paperwork from out under his breakfast. However, when he got a better look at what was on his plate, Arthur frowned, “Merlin, where’s my-“

But the servant had already gone.

O=II==========>

Morgana was humming to herself softly, brushing a comb through her hair when she heard a polite knock on her door.

“Come in.” She called. Her smile only grew wider when she saw Gwen step in.

“Gwen.” She greeted.

“Milady.” Gwen smiled into her curtsy, “I wanted to give you something.”

“How sweet.” Morgana’s heart fluttered with joy as she rose from her seat and approached her servant. Seeing the blush that was rising up in her maid’s cheeks, Morgana couldn’t  
help but tease her a little, “But I thought gifts were for the end of the month.”

“I-I know, but…” Swallowing down her nerves, Gwen thrust out the white rose that she had been hiding behind her back, “I’ve noticed that you like wearing that green dress on the first of every winter month, so I thought…” Gwen swallowed once again as she cleared her throat, “I thought that this flower would go well with it.”

Morgana took the rose and smiled as Gwen’s hands immediately started fiddling with themselves, “Oh, Gwen, it’s beautiful, I’ll be sure to wear it.”

“You don’t have to!” Gwen stuttered out, “You don’t have to just because I said I thought you’d look better in it, I mean I’m not saying that the dress is bad on its own, it’s absolutely beautiful but then again what do I know, my word doesn’t really count for anything since I’m a servant but I just thought you’d like this flower because I thought that green and white would go well together and-“

“Gwen.” Morgana chuckled at yet another infamous hole that Gwen had dug up through her rambling alone, “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

Gwen beamed at the praise and gestured towards the wardrobe, “I’ll go and get your dress.”

With that, she scrambled off. Smiling dreamily, Morgana sat back down at her vanity and sniffed at the white rose. It was fresh, and smelt of the frosty air that had been blowing through the halls of Camelot long into the night. Morgana loved it.

When Gwen emerged with the correct clothes, the two engaged in the gossip that had been going around the castle, Gwen smiling at whatever one of the knights had said and Morgana giggling at whatever idiot antics her brother and his manservant had gotten themselves into.

Once Morgana was fully dressed, she thanked Gwen and, just as she was about to leave her room for a walk in the gardens, there was a knock at the door.  
“Arthur. Where’s Merlin?” Morgana asked, hiding her surprise. The two had gotten so close now that it was rare to see one without the other.

“Dragging everything down to the training grounds.” Arthur said as he marched into Morgana’s chambers, “With some luck his muscles are killing him.”

“I see.” Morgana said through gritted teeth, not even bothering with the effort of chastising Arthur into walking into her chambers uninvited. And he claimed Merlin was rude for never knocking, “What’s happened this time?”

“Merlin’s dragon ate all my ham.” Arthur scowled as he reclined back into the seat, “I’m starting to think it’s as dumb as he is.”

Morgana sighed. It was way to early in the morning to deal with Merlin and Arthur’s latest pranks, “You’re a prince, Arthur, you can go down to the kitchens and get some ham whenever you like. Besides, Aithusa is not dumb. She’s a baby, and she’s growing quickly.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything more on the matter. Morgana, already exasperated, placed her hands on the hips, “Well then, is there any good reason as to why you’re here or did you just come here to complain about a harmless baby dragon?”

“Actually, yes.” Arthur’s expression flickered as if he had just remembered something and he shot up from his seat, “I came to ask about what the theme should be for this year’s feast.”

“And why would I know that?” Morgana asked, slowly losing her patience with her brother.

Arthur looked at her oddly, “Because you’re a girl. Girls know these kind of things.”

Morgana sighed, “Aren’t you supposed to be deciding that this afternoon? Why are you asking me?”

“Because I don’t know anything about this kind of stuff!” Arthur confessed.

“People aren’t going to think you’re a bad king if you choose a bad theme, Arthur.” Morgana smiled slightly, secretly pleased that Arthur was taking the more mediocre tasks of ruling just as importantly, and that he just wasn’t constantly thinking about swords.

“This is going to be my first Winter Yule feast as King, I don’t want to give the people the idea that I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“But you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Exactly!” Arthur shouted, throwing his hands up in the air, “So, Merlin suggested that I come to you for advice.”

“He’s right.” Morgana smirked as she rolled her beautiful white flower between two fingers, “I think me and Gwen would be able to choose a theme much better than you.”

At that, Gwen emerged through the door, dirty bed sheets bundled in her arms.

“Gwen!” Morgana called, “Arthur requires our assistance.”

“Really? I’m honoured, Your majesty.” Gwen went into a small courtesy, but Arthur awkwardly rose and waved it away.

“There’s no need for that, Gwen.” Arthur smiled, “Just call me Arthur.”

“Oh… alright… Arthur.” Gwen tried uncertainly, the name unfamiliar in her mouth, “What did you need help with.”

“The themes for this year’s feast.” Arthur explained. With that, he launched into all the themes that his court members had proposed the previous months and the differences between them. After he had written them all down for Morgana and Gwen to mull over, he straightened and grinned.

“Thank you, Morgana, Gwen.” Arthur nodded to each of them, “I have just enough time after training to come back and discuss the matter with you before the meeting. Could you think about it until then?”

“Of course.” Morgana pulled off one of her more charming smiles, the parchment safely in her hand, “Goodbye, Arthur.”

When Morgana had firmly shut the door, she turned to Gwen, who was loading the dirty washing into the hamper, “Well, Gwen, it seems we have some work to do.” She smiled, placing the parchment onto the table, “But first, do you mind weaving this beautiful flower of yours into my hair?”

Gwen practically glowed at the suggestion, and rushed over to Morgana to help her.

O=II==========>

Back on the training grounds, Merlin and Arthur were watching Gwaine, who had clearly come to training drunk, stagger around Elyan’s sword fighting.

“So Morgana and Gwen are in charge of the decision now?” Merlin asked as he watched Elyan and Gwaine clash swords, “And you’re going to announce their decision In court?”

“Precisely.” Arthur grinned, happy that everything had come together so well, “I’m glad you’re managing to finally keep up with things, Merlin.”

Merlin scoffed, “I believe it was my idea in the first place.”

“You said that Gaius told you.”

“Yes but I told you.”

Arthur opened his mouth to reply, but it was at that exact moment that Aithusa came bounding over to Merlin after enjoying a particularly relaxing nap in the shadow of a shield that had been perched on the rack. 

“There you are!” Arthur exclaimed as Aithusa made herself comfortable on Merlin’s shoulder, “You ate my ham!”

Aithusa chirruped at him, wide blue eyes gazing at him innocently as she cocked her head.

“Don’t know what you mean, Arthur.” Merlin’s eyes looked just as innocent, “I didn’t give you any ham.”

Arthur looked at him, not falling for it, “There was grease on the plate.”

Merlin bit his lip. “Okay. There was ham. But Aithusa needed it a lot more than you do.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes, “Are you calling me fat?!”

“No!” Merlin started, then paused. “Well, yes.”

Arthur sighed, watching the creature gnaw on her tail, “Seems like she’s going to need some more. Otherwise she’s going to gnaw her tail off.”

“It would seem like it.” Merlin hummed. He plucked Aithusa of his shoulder and held her to his chest, moving her tail out of the way. Seeing how chewing her tail was now no longer an option, Aithusa now started to chew on Merlin’s neckerchief.

A short spurt of applause brought the two out of their conversation as they saw Elyan standing over Gwaine, who still looked like he didn’t know where he was. Merlin and Arthur joined in the applause, and then Arthur stepped forward to call an end to the training. 

After the knights had dispersed, Merlin and Arthur made their way to the kitchens to get some more food for Aithusa. On their way, Arthur thought about the council meeting that would be happening shortly after lunch, and how he would be able to credit Morgana and Gwen on their decision. Once upon a time, Arthur would have claimed that he made the decision himself, but he knew now that this was no longer fair.

Smiling at Merlin and appreciating the way the winter sun warmed the chill in his azure eyes, Arthur laughed along with him as the two walked back into the castle.


	2. 2nd December

As the morning sun filtered In through the curtains that Merlin had failed to close properly the precious night, Arthur stared up as his canopy, having woken up ages ago. 

The court meeting yesterday, once the theme had been discussed and chosen, then turned into one of his average meetings, that is to say, mind numbing and awfully boring. While Merlin himself wasn’t afraid to hide his yawns or eye rolls at the Court members, Arthur could do no such thing, and instead spent the meeting trying not to fall asleep as Leon recited the profits that the outlying farmers had reaped because of the bountiful harvest this year.

Arthur sighed, his thoughts turning over to the Winter Yule feast. The idea of a feast to celebrate the end of the year sounded fun on paper, but the planning? Arthur rolled over and snuggled down into the sheets, trying to escape the cold, nippy air that was blowing about the castle. What time was it? Surely it was time for Merlin to wake him up. It seemed the idiot was late, as usual. Arthur grumbled, trying to decide what chores to punish the servant with, but eventually gave up, grateful to just snuggle back under the covers and have a lie-in. Perhaps Merlin’s poor attendance was a blessing in disguise after all.

O=II==========>

“How tall did you say the cake was going to be?” Merlin distracted the cook as Aithusa took her fill of sausages.

“If everything goes right, should be our tallest cake yet!” The cook reported as she rolled her pin into some dough, then, as she turned around to get some flower, “Oi! Merlin, get that dragon of yours under control!”

“Sorry!” Merlin giggled, not sounding sorry at all as Aithusa leapt back onto Merlin’s shoulder.

“Kids.” The cook scoffed, giving a fond look to the baby dragon, “The most self-entitled brats in Camelot.”

“Really? I could do you one better.” Merlin shot her a grin as he lifted the tray up, “Speaking of him though, I better go give him his breakfast.”

With the cook’s laughter sounding out behind him, Merlin made his way up to the prince’s chamber, Aithusa warm and happy with her stomach full of sausages.

After Merlin had set the breakfast tray down on the table, he turned around and started piling the fireplace with logs in order to start a fire, not wanting a repeat of yesterday. In that time, however, he noticed that Aithusa was no longer at his side.

A brief spurt of panic started as he rose to find nothing on his shoulder. He was just about to call out when there was a shout of surprise coming from behind him. When he turned around, he saw that Aithusa had started licking Arthur’s face, with Arthur trying desperately to wave her away.

“Merlin!” Arthur scolded, “Get your stupid dragon of me!”

Merlin, however, was far to busy laughing at the sight of the prince scrambling back into his bed to avoid the affection of a baby dragon. Eventually, the novelty wore off, but Merlin was still smiling when he called Aithusa’s name.

Proud of herself, Aithusa hopped back onto Merlin’s shoulder, gave him an affectionate nip on the ear, and then glided back over to the bed and promptly fell asleep. Arthur, who was wiping dragon saliva off his face, stared at her in amazement.

“I was right.” He breathed. “She is as lazy as you are.”

Merlin rolled his eyes at the statement and turned to look at the fire, his eyes burning gold as he did so. A second later, a fire sprung up, heating the room immediately. Arthur sighed happily at the newfound heat and rose out of bed, careful not to disrupt the sleeping dragon.

“What took you so long?” He turned to Merlin as the servant started fetching his clothes.

“What?” Merlin asked.

“You’re late. As usual.”

Merlin shrugged, “I asked the cook how preparations for the Winter Yule feast was going, they did all their planning yesterday once the theme had been decided.”

“Oh.” Arthur said, pleasantly surprised that Merlin had shown some initiative, “And? What did she say?”

“She said it was going to be as big as your ego.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, “She did not say that.”

“Really? That’s what I heard.”

Arthur shot him a look that quite plainly told him to shut up and, for once, Merlin obeyed, instead opting to focus on tying the laces on Arthurs shirt, as Arthur had to deal with villager requests in the morning and training in the afternoon.

After Merlin had stepped back and admired Arthur’s appearance, to which Arthur shot him a cocky smirk that only made Merlin blush, Arthur sat down and started eating his breakfast. A peaceful silence filled the room as Merlin made a start on his chores, the only sounds in the room were the scrapping of a knife and fork, Aithusa’s heavy breathing and the clatter of armour as Merlin polished it for the afternoon.

Arthur couldn’t help but smile as he watched his servant run around the room looking for the cloth that he had misplaced the previous night. No imminent threats. No overbearing issue. These peaceful mornings with Merlin were definitely Arthur’s favourite memories.

All to soon though, Arthur had finished his breakfast and he and Merlin made to head out of the door when Arthur turned to the dragon.

“Are we just… going to leave her here?” Arthur frowned, watching the dragon as though she was a ticking time bomb.

“Yeah. She won’t make a mess.” Merlin nodded with a small smile. Then, under his breath, “With any luck she’ll catch the rat that’s in here.”

“What’s that?”

“Nothing!”

O=II==========>

Morgana was striding down the hallway with the head in the clouds when Gwen finally mustered up the courage to ask her a question.

“Morgana?” She practically blurted out.

Morgana turned to her, “Yes? What is it, Gwen?”

Gwen fiddled with her hands, trying to fight down the blush that was slowly creeping up her neck, “I was wondering that maybe, perhaps, you’d like to take a walk with me in the garden?”

When Morgana was silent for a moment, Gwen leapt to correct herself, “It’s okay if you don’t want to! I just thought that some fresh air might do you some good, not that you  
don’t spend all your time cooped up here, I just thought that maybe you’d want to-“

“A walk sounds perfect, Gwen.” Morgana smiled fondly as Gwen rambled on, “Shall we go?”

Gwen nodded eagerly, not trusting herself to speak, as Morgana led her servant down towards the garden.

The garden itself was huge, and was constantly being worked on by the staff of gardeners. It was labyrinth of colours and sizes, species and smells. Gwen loved coming here every day or so to walk and clear her head. The best thing about the garden was that it was constantly changing. The gardeners took their jobs extremely seriously, and the flowers in the labyrinth changed with each season. Now, with winter hovering above them in the frosty air, the gardeners had taken it upon themselves to plant some lovely flowers that had different ranges of blue and white to them. 

Morgana and Gwen arrived at the garden and gasped in delight. While none of the flowers were in bloom yet, hints of silvers and tinctures of smells could be sensed within the maze.

“Gwen, it’s beautiful.” Morgana breathed, “How ignorant of me to choose riding over this. Thank you, Gwen.”

“My pleasure, Milady.” Gwen grinned, happiness elating her heart at the thought of making her mistress happy, “I’ll show you my favourites! If you want, I mean…”

With a kind smile, Morgana signalled for her to lead the way, and Gwen took her hand and led her through the winter wonderland that was Camelot castle’s own backyard.

They met a few of the gardeners along the way, and Morgana was very impressed to know that Gwen knew them all by name, and vice versa. She nodded and greeted them politely, making sure that she took a note of their names. After all, this would hardly be the last time coming to this place.

After twists and turns that Morgana had no chance of remembering, Gwen finally came to a stop in front of the snowdrops.

“They’re not in bloom yet.” Gwen panted, exhausted after all that hurried walking, “But these are the snowdrops that Gillian planted a few weeks ago…”

Moraga looked down at the tiny little buds that reached out to her, their stems outstretched and waiting. Understanding, Morgana’s eyes glowed gold as she uttered a small enchantment under her breath.

With a small squeal of delight, Gwen watched in amazement as the snowdrops bloomed before her very eyes, pure white petals unfurling at Morgana’s command.

“Oh, Morgana.” Gwen breathed, “They’re beautiful.”

“Aren’t they just?” Morgana agreed, her eyes fixed on her servant as Gwen admired the flowers, “Come, let’s see what else this garden has to offer.”

Staring at her mistress with new adoration, Gwen let Morgana take her by the hand and lead her through the labyrinth of flowers.

O=II==========>

“You really think that’s what it is?”

“No, it can’t be…”

“A mosquito bite maybe?”

“Perhaps…”

Arthur looked up from his drink and sighed when he saw his knights and servant crowded around where Gwaine was sat, examining a wound and trying to decipher what it was, as Gwaine was to drunk to remember how he got it.

Merlin frowned, examining the wound the way Gaius would a dying patient, “It looks like two wasps had sex on your back.”

Arthur coughed into his drink as Gwaine burst out laughing, “Good one.”

The knights laughed along with Gwaine as they clapped Merlin on the back, Gwaine’s mysterious wound forgotten.

The group had finished their training a few hours ago, and now, with the sun slowly setting in the sky, Gwaine had proposed going to the tavern to celebrate a job well done. Arthur had been about to decline, but Merlin and the others had already accepted. Knowing Merlin’s bad habit of constantly getting himself into trouble, Arthur had sighed and tagged along. It wasn’t long before he had started enjoying himself, but that didn’t stop him from being careful. While everyone else got drunk, Arthur had to make sure that he didn’t let himself let go to much. It was his duty as King to protect his people, his knights included. If he was just as inebriated as everyone else, then who would protect them if someone attacked? Arthur hoped he would never feel that defenceless in his life.

“Well, I’m done!” Gwaine exclaimed, slamming his drink down onto the table, “Anyone else up for another round?”

“Gwaine.” Arthur spoke up before anyone else could answer, “Don’t you think that’s enough for one night?”

“Enough?” Gwaine echoed, “I’ve only had… uhhh…” Gwaine fell into silence for a good few moments as he realized that he had lost count after ten, “Come on, Arthur! Where’s your Christmas spirit?”

“It’s the beginning of December.”

“So?” Gwaine challenged, “Next round is on me.”

“Gwaine, I think Arthur’s got a point.” Merlin wrapped an arm around Gwaine, which Arthur narrowed his eyes at, “You’re not going to be able to walk home if you have any more.”  
“You’ve got a point.” Gwaine sighed, leaning into Merlin’s chest, “How about you walk me home?”

Merlin blushed at the blatant flirting, but chose to ignore it. Arthur was glaring at Gwaine, but it was clear that he was drunk. It was common knowledge that Gwaine was overly fond of Merlin, but he put aside his feelings the minute he saw how Merlin looked at Arthur.

“I think we could all use some help getting back to the barracks.” Percival grunted, rubbing his head slightly.

“I’m sure you’ll have no problem carrying us all, then.” Elyan mumbled, already half asleep.

“Bet I can lift more than you.” Gwaine challenged Percival, who arched his eyebrow at him.

“You’re on, little man.” Percival grinned, the match already won.

Arthur watched in bewilderment as Percival obliterated Gwaine one arm wrestle after another, the other knights cheering them on. As they did so, Merlin snuggled next to Arthur, nestling his cup of mead to his chest.

“Sorry about Gwaine.” Merlin apologised, “He must be pretty drunk.”

“It’s not your fault.” Arthur murmured into Merlin’s hair, “And it’s not Gwaine’s either. He can’t help what he feels. It’s admirable of him to put them aside.”

“I’m just worried, that’s all.” Merlin confessed into his tankard, “What if he’s getting drunk because of me?”

“I think Gwaine’s getting drunk because it’s the only thing he knows how to do.” Arthur raised his eyebrows slightly as Gwaine lost yet again, to Leon this time, “Besides, you know  
what Gwaine does. He’ll fall in love with the next person he crosses paths with. You know how he is.”

“I suppose.” Merlin offered a small smile. With another sigh, Merlin leant into Arthur’s side.

“Are you drunk?” Arthur asked, grinning.

“A little.” Merlin admitted, his words slurring slightly.

Arthur laughed, looking at Merlin’s tankard, “You’ve only drunk half a mug.”

Merlin gave a hum of confirmation as he leant against Arthur’s chest, his eyes fluttering close. Arthur shook his head in amusement and took the cup from Merlin’s grip, scared that it would slip and crash onto the floor if he didn’t.

Because of all of Merlin’s lies in the past, it didn’t take long for Arthur to realise that Merlin’s frequent visits to the tavern were yet another lie, and that the boy turned out to be quite the lightweight. Merlin had manage to polish of half a cup before he had started feeling drowsy.

“Merlin?” Arthur asked, watching as Lancelot defeated Gwaine quite literally while blindfolded, as they had pinched Merlin’s neckerchief when he wasn’t looking.

“Mhm?” Merlin managed.

“Don’t you dare fall asleep and leave me alone with this lot.”

“I’m not going to.” Merlin said as he shuffled around in seat, getting comfortable against Arthur’s shoulder.

“I wasn’t ready!” Gwaine claimed as Lancelot beat him once more, “Best three out of five?”

Arthur sighed as the knights bickered, taking a swig of his own tankard. After he had swallowed, he called out, “Merlin?”

Merlin was asleep.

Arthur rolled his eyes and gave his idiot servant a harsh push, which woke Merlin with a start.

“Huh? What?”

“Eloquent as always.” Arthur scolded him with another shove.

“What did I do?” Merlin asked.

“You fell asleep right after I told you not to.”

“No I didn’t.”

“I swear you do this on purpose.” Arthur claimed, unable to stop the smile that was spreading across his face.

“No.” Merlin hesitated, “Well, yes. Maybe. Sometimes. Just to annoy you.”

Arthur rolled his eyes and kissed him, pleased when Merlin’s response was just as eager.

“I’ll never get tired of this.” Arthur said as he wrapped his arm around Merlin’s shoulder. Merlin smiled at the claim and kissed Arthur’s cheek before settling back down to watch the knights arm wrestle each other.

After about an hour or so of the knights betting against each other, they all tumbled out of the tavern, Arthur and Merlin following behind them.

Lancelot was doing the best of the bunch, with only his sense of direction being hindered by all the alcohol. Percival and Leon were more or less the same, but it was Gwaine and  
Elyan who had gone a little to far. Elyan, most likely to celebrate his victory over Gwaine yesterday and Gwaine because… well, he was Gwaine.

Merlin had sobered up considerably in the past hour, and was feeling a lot better after a short nap at Arthur’s side.

“Come on.” Arthur sighed, “We’d better carry these lot home.”

“I’m not carrying Percival.” Merlin said, making a beeline for Gwaine.

Arthur rolled his eyes and walked over to Percival, “Can you walk on your own?”

“I’ll be fine, I wouldn’t want to crush you.” Percival grinned, “I’ll handle Elyan. You make sure Merlin doesn’t trip over his own feet.”

Knowing that this was entirely possible, Arthur nodded and joined Merlin and Gwaine, who had already started walking up the street. Merlin shot him a smile as soon as he saw him walking up, and then continued in his pretence of listening to Gwaine’s tavern story which, from what Arthur had heard so far, seemed to be about a dancing bear.

Together, the seven of them made painfully slow progress up the hill towards Camelot castle, with nothing but the slurred, half-recalled events of Gwaine’s most recent tavern tales. Merlin wasn’t paying attention, more focused on getting Gwaine’s swaying figure into a bed than anything else.

Finally, after a long half-hour had crawled by, they arrived in the castle courtyard, where Lancelot agreed to take the now singing form of Gwaine away from Merlin. Watching the knights stagger of, Arthur and Merlin stood together, alone in the courtyard, simply enjoying each other’s company.

“We should start getting to bed soon.” Arthur decided as he stared at the moon. Then he looked back towards his servant when a thought occurred to him, “Wait, where’s Aithusa? Is she still on my bed?”

Merlin shook his head, “No. I talked to Morgana this afternoon, she said she’d look after her for the evening because I knew that Gwaine would probably suggest drinking after training.”

“I see. With any luck, she hasn’t peed on anything.”

Merlin rolled his eyes, “She is potty trained, Arthur.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.” Arthur scoffed.

“What do you mean? I take perfect care of Aithusa!”

“And that’s why she constantly steals my food, is it?”

“No, she only steals the food that you don’t need, which just so happens to be most of it!” Merlin said as the two of them started walking back inside the castle.

“Merlin?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I have like no ideas for this fic but it's still really fun to write so I'm just kinda struggling a bit and its's only the second day oh boy-
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


	3. 3rd Decemeber

“A little to the left…”

Merlin grunted and complied, moving the tinsel as far as his weight distribution on the ladder would allow him. Down below, Arthur was watching carefully, humming in satisfaction as Merlin tied the tinsel around the hook that had been installed earlier that morning.

Everywhere in the castle was alight with the spirit of Christmas, and the servants had taken it upon themselves to make sure that every room, hall and servant passageway were decorated for the holidays. The passion that had spread amongst the servants was contagious, and Merlin had spent the majority of the morning asking Arthur if they could decorate his room. After a good hour of being annoyed at his servant, Arthur finally agreed, as long as Merlin did most of the work.

Now, the two were trying to hang tinsel around the room, and it was going as well as you would expect. Merlin was doing all the work, while Arthur was hanging back and telling Merlin vague and unhelpful tips.

“There.” Merlin sighed as he tied the tinsel to that it would stay attached to the wall, “Onto the next piece.”

With that, Merlin scrambled down the ladder, the remainder of the tinsel still slung over his shoulder, and he moved the ladder to the left slightly with his magic. When he had done so, he climbed back onto the ladder and tied the next interval of tinsel onto the next hook in the wall.

Seeing this, Arthur frowned, “Why don’t you just use magic?” 

Merlin shot him a look, unimpressed, “Because it would take half the fun out of it.”

“What do you mean?” Arthur asked, “It would make things easier.”

“But that’s not what this is about!” Merlin argued, “Once you’ve finished decorating and you see this beautiful room, the fact that you put all your hard work into it creates this sense of achievement that’s a lot better than just using magic to get the job done.”

“Not sure I understand.” Arthur frowned.

“Well of course you don’t.” Merlin huffed, “You’ve been standing there for the past half-hour.”

“And?” Arthur challenged, “I’ve helped!”

“Oh yeah? How so?”

“I’ve been telling you where to put things!”

“You mean telling me where the clearly visible hooks are? Why thank you, Sire, I truly don’t know how I would have done this without you.”

Arthur scoffed but fell silent, instead opting to sit on the bed and watch in peaceful contentment as Merlin slowly worked around the border of the room, murmuring to himself as he put interwoven red and gold tinsel around the walls of Arthur’s room.

Arthur, with his incapability of making decisions, had asked Merlin to choose the decorations for him room for him, since he was the one who was pleading to decorate the room in the first place. At that, Merlin had eagerly suggested red and gold tinsel, since it was the Camelot colours. Now, with said tinsel glinting in the winter sun, Arthur had to admit that it wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Where’s Aithusa?” Arthur asked, suddenly aware that the room had been awfully quiet for a long time.

“Aithusa?” Merlin asked as he reached to attach the tinsel to the hook, “She’s with Morgana. Before you came back from training Aithusa got tangled up in all the tinsel and started chasing it, so I had to give her over to Morgana while I decorate.”

Arthur nodded, satisfied with his servant’s answer. While Merlin was the centre of Aithusa’s world, it was no secret that Morgana was a close second when it came to Aithusa’s affections. Arthur smiled as he remembered how Aithusa had sneezed and accidentally set Morgana’s dress on fire, and the two had been best friends ever since.

“There.” Merlin’s sigh of satisfaction brought Arthur out of his memories, “That should do it.”

Seeing that he was done, Arthur rose from the bed and joined Merlin’s side, “Not bad.”

“I would have liked to see you do better.” Merlin challenged.

“And deny myself the pleasure of watching you trip up over the tinsel? Nonsense.”

“I didn’t trip over it! I just didn’t see it, that’s all.”

“Yes, you didn’t see it and you tripped.”

“Stumbled.”

“What’s the difference?”

When he got nothing in reply, Arthur grinned at the sight of Merlin’s mouth hanging open.

“You tripped.”

“Prat.” Merlin grumbled to himself as he brushed all the tinsel remains off his clothes.

Taking pride in his victory, Arthur watched in elated glee as Merlin reached into the box that was in the centre of the room and started pulling out more Christmas decorations.

“What on earth are those supposed to be?” Arthur asked, staring at the strange objects that Merlin had pulled out of the box.

“No idea.” Merlin murmured as he examined them.

“What do you mean you have no idea?” Arthur exclaimed, “You’re the one who brought the box up!”

“I thought they were some fancy decoration that was an excuse for rich people to show of their money!” Merlin argued, “I thought that you would know what it was!”

Arthur sighed and examined the strange decoration with a frown, “You think we hang it up somewhere?”

Merlin shrugged, “Maybe it belongs on the tree?”

“The tree can wait for another day. I’m not doing that right now.”

“You’re not doing anything right now. In fact, I’m the one whose doing all the work.”

“And? Where’s your sense of satisfaction, Merlin?”

Merlin shot him a look that made Arthur grin all the wider and, with a small frown, said, “I think it’s a mobile.”

Arthur scowled, “A what?”

“A mobile! You know, the thing parents put above their children’s head to help them get to sleep.”

Arthur shook his head, bewildered, “Kids have that floating above their heads while they’re sleeping?”

Merlin looked at him, confused, “You mean you didn’t have one when you were a kid?”

“No, and I’m glad of it. What kid would want that hovering over them?”

Merlin gave a non-commital hum as he examined the mobile more thoroughly. This one was made mostly of wood, with painted wood carvings of trees and candles lazily rotating with the breeze.

“I don’t think one is specifically for kids.” Merlin figured, “I think it’s just a Christmas one.”

“I don’t care what it is, just put it back in the box.” Arthur declared. Shrugging, not really seeing a use for it either, Merlin placed in back in the box. 

“Anything else in here that you want for your room, Sire?” Merlin asked, the tint of sarcasm present in his voice.

Arthur looked at him, “You decide. It’s your job.”

“It’s your room. Whatever I do, however I choose to decorate, you’re not going to like it. Then you’ll ask me to undo all my hard work and do it the way that you want it.”

Arthur sighed, but quickly realised that Merlin had a point, “Fine. Let’s see what’s in there.”

When he peered into the box, he saw a handful of decorations that the servants had given to Merlin with the promise that they would be to Arthur’s liking. So far, apart from the tinsel, Arthur wasn’t very impressed. There were a lot of scented candles in there, though Arthur had never cared much for those. Morgana, however, would have been delighted. There were also a bunch of Christmas tree decorations in there, but Arthur wasn’t prepared to start that nightmare just yet. And then, as he rummaged around to the bottom of the box, the colour of foliage caught his eye.

“What’s that?” Arthur asked, reaching into the box. When he pulled it out, his eyes widened slightly as the plant that was before him.

Mistletoe.

Arthur heard Merlin gasp from beside him and turned to look at his servant’s face. It was quickly turning a deep shade of red and, his eyes turning gold, Arthur felt a slight twinge of disappointment as Merlin used magic to quickly yank the mistletoe out of Arthur’s hand and into his.

“I’m sorry!” Merlin blurted out, his face growing redder by the second, “I swear, I didn’t know how that got in there, I just…”

“Merlin.” Arthur found himself smiling in amusement at just how red Merlin’s face was getting, “It’s fine. It’s probably the only decent thing in there.”

“You think?” Merlin questioned, “Because I thought- Gwaine!”

Arthur did a double-take, “What?”

“That conniving…! I knew there was reason he wanted to look at the decorations. He must have snuck this in when I wasn’t looking!”

Arthur blinked a few times, watching in bewilderment as Merlin started ranting about Gwaine and his stupid decisions. With the discovery of the mistletoe, Merlin’s embarrassment and now sudden anger, Arthur couldn’t help but laughing.

Merlin faltered, “What? Why are you laughing?”

“Because you’re an idiot!” Arthur answered, “You really didn’t think Gwaine would try something?”

“Well I-“ Merlin huffed, “I mean-“

Shaking his head, Arthur pulled Merlin in for a hug, “It’s perfect, Merlin. I say we hang it up. King’s orders.”

With his heart beating to loudly for Merlin to trust himself in saying anything, he simply nodded, content to rest his forehead against Arthur’s shoulder as he hugged back.

O=II==========>

Gwen hummed to herself as she put the candles in place, thinking of how delighted Morgana would be when she would finally walk into her room.

Morgana had told Gwen that she had fancied a walk in the lower town to look at what the merchants there had on sale, and Gwen had let her go, eager to give her mistress a   
surprise when she finally arrived back in her room.

Aithusa, who was curled up on the bed asleep, had so far been a little dear, and was currently curled in the warmth of Morgana’s bed, the slow, rhythmic breathing telling stories of peaceful dreams.

Gwen placed the final candle on the table and straightened, pleased with what she had done with the place. She knew all to well about Morgana’s fondness for scented candles,   
and how they had helped her a great deal whenever she had to calm down from one of her nightmares. Ever since then, Gwen had been placing scented candles in her room on special occasions, and the task had always cheered Morgana up. Gwen smiled at the thought. Anything to put a smile on Morgana’s face.

Satisfied with the finished project, Gwen walked back over to the box that she had lugged up the stairs (a task that she was rather proud about) and smiled in the sight that awaited her.

Yesterday afternoon, with Morgana relieving her off duties, Gwen had gone outside into the forest and had started picking the daisies that had bloomed there. After a few failed attempts, she had successfully made a few daisy chains that, with luck, Morgana would love.

Unable to hold back a grin, Gwen took the daisies from the box and started dangling them around the room.

O=II==========>

Another hour had passed when the door finally opened and Morgana stepped in, only for her face to light up when she took in the sight before her.

“Gwen.” She breathed, still unable to believe what she was seeing, “You did all of this for me?”

“Off course, milady.” Gwen answered, “I wanted to make you smile.”

Morgana took in the small woman before her and once again found herself unsure of how she had deserved such a kind-hearted and loyal servant.

“Gwen.” Morgana found herself laughing, unsure of what else to do, “There are no words.”

“I told you, I didn’t do it for words.” Gwen said. At the soft tone of her voice, Morgana couldn’t help but smile. She pulled Gwen into a hug, which the young maid gladly accepted.   
Smiling to herself, she buried her nose in the raven hair that smelled like flowers and perfume and longed to stay there forever.

Not a second later though, a strange sound came from the bed, and Morgana’s attention was averted.

“Aithusa!” Morgana scolded, “How many times have I told you not to chew my pillows?”

Aithusa, who had most likely thought the pillows to be a rabbit, dropped it immediately, the sheepish look on her face surprisingly adorable and shockingly manipulative. Gwen found the whole scene so amusing that she couldn’t help hiding a snicker behind her hand.

“Don’t give me that look, young lady.” Morgana continued, “I should give you to Arthur, he’d know what to do with you-“

“Morgana.” Gwen chuckled, “It was an accident. The pillows weren’t even harmed that badly.”

Sure enough, when Morgana cast a look at the pillows, she found that, despite the minor hole that had been chewed into it, the most damage that had been done was a large amount of drool. Her temper calming down, Morgana sighed.

“What are we going to do with you?” Morgana tutted. Seeing that her second favourite person in the world had now calmed down, Aithusa gave a chirrup of delight and rolled onto her stomach. Morgana rolled her eyes and gave in, smiling to herself as she scratched Aithusa’s stomach.

“I can probably sew the holes closed.” Gwen announced as she examined the pillows for herself. Then, cringing, “Once the drool has dried, of course.”

“That’s be appreciated, Gwen, thank you.”

Happy with the scrathes that had been given, Aithusa spread her wings and glided over to the table, giving a few experimental flaps before landing with a small grunt. After shaking the momentum off, she padded over to the candle that Gwen had placed there and started gagging.

“What’s she doing…?” Morgana asked, her eyebrows knitted together in worry.

“I think she’s doing something to the candle.” Gwen stated, still not entirely sure herself.

After a few alarming seconds of Aithusa gagging, she finally managed to spark a flame that ignited the candle and caused a small flame to catch onto the wick.

Chirping with delight, Aithusa glided over to the next candle and continued to do the same. Now that she had gotten the hand of starting her flame, the candles were getting lit one by one, until an array of candle flames waved at them from all sides, a cacophony of scents floating over to them.

Her job done, Aithusa landed back on the table with a satisfied purr, gleefully accepting the head pat that Morgana gave her.

Noticing that Gwen was still in awe at the sights, Morgana tore her eyes away from the glowing candles and walked over to the box, curious as to what she would find in there.  
When she peered in and rummaged down to the bottom, her eyes became as enchanted as the candles when she saw a plant that she immediately recognised.

Making sure that Gwen was still to absorbed with Aithusa’s show to notice her, she quickly snatched the plant away and hid it in a draw. Now wasn’t the time. Not yet.

After all, gifts were supposed to be given at the end of the month.

O=II==========>

“You sure you want to go up there? You can always come back down!”

“I know what I’m doing, Merlin!”

“When have you ever known what you were doing?”

“Just be quiet and let me focus!”

Laughing, Merlin stayed quiet and focused on the armour that he was polishing. It was getting late in the day, and Arthur had training early in the morning tomorrow. Meanwhile,   
Merlin had annoyed Arthur so much about the decorating that the prat had finally agreed to do some of it himself. Now, he was currently trying to balance himself on the ladder, Merlin’s magic playing a big part in making sure that the whole thing didn’t immediately topple over.

“How do people do this every year…?” Arthur murmured to himself as he held a decoration in his hands. It had been Merlin’s bright idea to suggest that they decorate Arthur’s room with ribbons hanging down from the ceiling, held there by magic. Arthur had been completely fine with the idea until Merlin suggested that he be the one to put them there. 

“I’m not going up there!” Merlin had retorted, “I can’t keep my balance and perform magic at the same time.”

What Arthur didn’t know was that Merlin absolutely could, but he didn’t need to know about that.

And that was how Arthur had ended up on the top ring of the ladder, holding a streamer close to the ceiling.

“Can’t you just levitate this thing up using magic?” Arthur called, both the nerves and strain on his muscles causing his voice to shake.

Unbeknownst to Arthur, Merlin pursed his lips as a flash of guilt crossed his face. He hadn’t thought of that. Ah, well, Arthur didn’t need to know.

“Um… no!” Merlin quickly improvised, “The spell wouldn’t be as effective!”

Arthur sighed, not believing the answer for a second, “Well, get on with it!” He shouted, his arm shaking slightly.

With that, Merlin took a good look at the streamers as his eyes glowed gold. Slowly, the red and gold streamers slowly tugged themselves out of Arthur’s hand and started hanging themselves around the ceiling, swaying in the slight breeze that was coming in through the open window.

With a sigh of relief, Arthur landed back on the ground and walked over to Merlin, who was just wrapping up the spell.

“There.” Merlin grinned, “That should do it.”

However, Arthur wasn’t listening. He was to busy staring at Merlin and the gold that was still burning in his eyes.

“Beautiful.” He whispered. Grinning, Merlin took a look around the room.

“Yeah, it is isn’t it?” He agreed, admiring the tinsel, “I only wanted to decorate to annoy you, but seeing this… I think it was worth it.”

Arthur rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around Merlin’s waist, “You forgot one thing.”

Merlin turned to look at him, “Yeah? What’s that?”

Smiling, Arthur walked over to the table and picked up the mistletoe that he had placed on the table hours ago, “The finishing touch.”

Merlin groaned.

“Save the best ‘till last.”

Merlin groaned louder.

“Come on.” Arthur chuckled, punching Merlin in the arm, “Help me hang this up.”

The red hue once again returning to his face, Merlin nodded. Using his magic once more, Arthur watched in amazement as the mistletoe hovered and was placed just above the   
door.

“Beautiful.” Arthur repeated, and, once again, it wasn’t the mistletoe he was looking at.


	4. 4th December

Merlin smiled to himself as he walked down the dimly lit corridor. Because the winter season was now heavily upon them, it meant that he woke up to dark skies and dark hallways. The constant chill that lasted through winter was a lot more bearable than the stinkbugs that stuck to the walls during summer though, so Merlin didn’t have that much to complain about. Besides, with a toasty baby dragon sitting on his shoulder most of the time, the bite in the air went mostly unnoticed. Said baby dragon was currently not taking kindly to being woken up early, and was now tugging on Merlin’s ear in an attempt to get his attention.

Merlin, used to dealing with spoilt prats, ignored her, instead opting to admire the tinsel that now lined the hallways. Yesterday, while Merlin had decorated Arthur’s rooms, the servants had been busy decorating the rest of the castle, and now it looked completely transformed. Tinsel lined the hallways, along with the occasional garlands that featured the flowers that had now bloomed in the garden. Aithusa, digging her claws into Merlin’s shoulder as a passive aggressive attempt for attention, looked at the tinsel with a bout of curiosity and was filled with glee as an idea came to her.

Immediately she leapt of Merlin’s shoulder, which grabbed the servant’s attention, and landed on the tinsel with the grave of a cat. The tinsel sagged under her weight slightly, but other than that, it remained the same. With a stubborn huff, Aithusa was pleased to see that she had finally gotten her master’s attention.

“Aithusa!” Merlin called, his voice a mix of worry and anger, “Get down from there! You’re only going to get yourself hurt!”

Aithusa grumbled at the words, refusing to listen. Merlin gave a sigh of annoyance as Aithusa turned her nose up at him. There was no denying it. Aithusa was in one of her moods. Putting on a stern face, Merlin tried again:

“Aithusa! Get down here right now!”

Aithusa stretched, lying down onto the tinsel with a flop. It was itchy, scratchy and not at all comfortable, but Aithusa could hardly care. All that mattered was that she was making her master finally pay attention to her. With a long yawn that Aithusa knew would only irritate her master further, she closed her eyes and feigned sleep, letting her tail dangle over the edge of her makeshift hammock.

Merlin groaned, hitting his head against the wall. With Arthur occupied by training, Merlin had been left by himself to complete his chores for the day. Unfortunately, since he hadn’t had time to complete all of his chores yesterday, it meant getting up early to catch up on all his work. While Merlin, with all the illegal adventures he had done in Camelot back in the day, already had a messed up sleep schedule, Aithusa was used to no such thing, and was now throwing a rare temper tantrum.

“And off all the places to have one.” Merlin thought to himself. Arthur had let Merlin in the castle providing that she had good behaviour and if Merlin could control her. If Aithusa suddenly started not listening to Merlin then it could mean that Merlin would be forced to hand Aithusa over to Kilgharrah..., and no one wanted to spend the holidays with him.  
Getting more and more worried by the second, Merlin allowed his angry expression to fade into a pleading one.

“Aithusa.” Merlin coaxed, “Could you come down please?”

Aithusa cracked one eye open and let out a lazy puff of air. Why did she have to listen to him? She wanted sleep. He wasn’t the boss of her.

“Aithusa.” Merlin begged. He was growing more and more aware that his voice was becoming more whiny, and he was starting to become anxious. If Arthur saw him like this he wouldn’t hear the end of it.

“Please?” Merlin tried, “I’ll give you some ham…”

The attempt did nothing though and Merlin watched helplessly as Aithusa twitched slightly and made herself comfortable. What was he going to do? He couldn’t leave her here where anyone could find her, but he didn’t want to be rough and force magic onto her either.

“Merlin?”

Merlin jumped at the sudden voice that was to the left of him. When he checked to see who it was though, a relieved smile spread across his face when he found Morgana standing there, looking at him with a concerned look.

“Morgana.” Merlin breathed, “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Really? What for?” Looking around for what seemed to be the problem, Morgana finally spotted the dragon up in the tinsel, “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Merlin rubbed his temples in annoyance, “Aithusa figured that now would be the perfect time to have a tantrum.”

“And why’s that?” Morgana looked at him sceptically, “Is Aithusa mad at you?”

“I guess.” Merlin shrugged, “I woke her up a few hours early. But that’s no reason to throw a tantrum! Arthur wakes me up all the time.”

“And?” A teasing smile spread across Morgana’s face as she cast a sly look over towards the servant, “I seem to recall you sulking and annoying Arthur whenever he wakes you up early as well.”

“I do not!” Merlin retorted, “I annoy him because he’s a prat and he deserves it, Aithusa is annoying me because she isn’t getting her own way.”

“No, it’s because she’s a child.” Morgana patiently reminded him, “It doesn’t matter if she behaves well most of the time, she deserves a strop every once in a while.”

Merlin made a small hum of agreement, “But even so, she can’t do it here. A servant’s going to have a heart attack if they spot her up there. How do we get her down?”

Seeing Merlin’s dilemma, Morgana let out a small hum of thought as she stared up at the sleeping dragon.

“Have you tried ham?”

“Third thing I tried. Didn’t get a reaction out of her.” Merlin shook his head. Back to square one, Morgana returned her gaze up to the dragon. After a few minutes of mulling over her options, she clapped her hands as a sudden idea came to her.

“How about a walk?” She suggested, “You, me and Aithusa go out riding in the forest. How does that sound.”

Aithusa’s ears cocked up.

“A walk, huh?” Merlin smirked, noticing Aithusa’s reaction, “I suppose…”

Morgana bit back her laugh as Aithusa’s tail started wagging slightly. Suddenly, Merlin flinched as a thought occurred to him.

“But I have chores.” Merlin groaned, “And more than usual. Arthur’s going to be mad if he learnt that I slacked off.”

Morgana shrugged, “We can say that Aithusa’s sick, and that it was a matter of emergency. You know the soft spot that Arthur has for Aithusa. Surely he’ll understand if the poor   
baby dragon needs some medical assistance?”

Morgana’s sly glances had the servant grinning. So, he had chores to do. So what? This certainly wasn’t the first time he’d neglected his duties.

“Well, if you insist.” Merlin sighed dramatically, “Hey, Aithusa, are you coming?”

Aithusa opened her eyes and looked down to see both Merlin and Morgana, her two most favourite people in the world, looking at her with hopeful glances. She thought about the idea of a ride in the woods, and how appealing the fresh air sounded. She could do with some flying practice, and annoying Merlin further during the ride also couldn’t hurt…

With a small chirrup of agreement, Aithusa leapt of the tinsel and, knowing how much Morgana hated it when she landed on her head, landed on her shoulder instead, rubbing her head against her cheek.

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Morgana crooned as she stroked Aithusa’s head.

Merlin scoffed, “How come she’s not mad at you?”

“Because I’m not the one who made her mad?”

“But she’s a baby, babies get mad at everything when they have a tantrum.”

“I suppose I’m just the special exception.” Morgana shrugged, “Isn’t that right, Aithusa?”

Aithusa gave a happy chirp as she wrapped her tail around Morgana’s shoulders. Merlin did not look impressed.

“Come on, it should be getting light now.” Morgana announced, “The air is always nicest when it’s early morning.”

Not seeing any reason to argue, Merlin followed his two friends as they made their way down to the stables.

The stables were deserted, as none of the nobles had woken up yet. In the distance, Merlin could hear the faint clash of swords and training went underway at the training grounds. Currently, the only people that were at the stables were the stable boys, who were combing, cleaning and feeding the horses.

“I’ll go fetch the horses.” Merlin offered, “You stay here and make sure Aithusa doesn’t do anything stupid.

Without waiting for Morgana to reply, Merlin went of to ask for his own horse and Morgana’s, saying that they wanted to take Aithusa out for exercise. This happened quite a lot since Aithusa was overly fond of the two of them, so having a lady and a manservant’s horse out at the same time wasn’t uncommon. The stable boy happily complied and soon Merlin, Morgana and Aithusa were on their way into the forest of Ascetir.

O=II==========>

An hour later, the three of them were making good progress into the forest, having left the market of Camelot behind and now being surrounded by trees on all sides. Aithusa had   
now cheered up considerably and was now hopping from branch to branch, the distance between her leaps widening every time. Merlin watched her anxiously, spells on the tip of his tongue in case she were to fall and accidentally hurt herself. Morgana, who had been watching a bird feed her babies, noticed this and chuckled at the sight.

“Merlin.” She smiled fondly, “She knows how to take care of herself. She’s safe.”

“But what if she stumbles?” Merlin was quick to respond, “Or if one of the branches breaks when she lands on it.”

“She’ll be fine.” Morgana replied patiently, “Besides, you can’t keep her safe forever. If you keep protecting her like this, she’s only going to grow up soft, and I don’t think that sort of nature is going to be very suitable for a dragon.”

“You’re right, as usual.” Merlin admitted, to which Morgana smirked, “But what if accidents make her scared? What if fear keeps her from doing anything else?”

“Accidents happen, Merlin, there’s nothing you can do to stop them.” Morgana reminded, “But there are some lessons that children can only learn through experience alone.

The two fell in silence for a short while, content to just watch Aithusa leap from branch to branch. There were a few minutes in the ride where Aithusa had befriended a squirrel, and had spent some time sniffing it’s tail and comparing it to hers. Merlin and Morgana laughed at the sight and, after Aithusa had waved goodbye to her new friend, they were off again, Aithusa making sure that she was showing of her flying skills to the squirrel as she went.

“She’s getting to be a bit of a show off, isn’t she?” Merlin remarked, his had protecting his eyes from the sun as he watched Aithusa perform a few unstable tricks in the air, “Think she got that from Arthur?”

Morgana laughed, “I wouldn’t be surprised, the amount of times he’s tried to impress you during training.”

A blush rose to Merlin’s cheeks, “He does not-“

“Oh come off it Merlin.” Morgana rolled her eyes, tired of the way that, even when in a relationship, the two would dance around each other, “Whenever I come down to join the training, Arthur is always swinging his sword around in front of you. It’s quite cute actually.”

“But I know how good a swordfighter he is.” Merlin protested, “Why would he need to impress me?”

Morgana smiled, “Because Arthur likes you. A lot. He probably does it because he thinks that it might make you like him even more.”

Merlin turned away from her, not bothering to stop the blush rising up in his cheeks, “You’re wrong. He just likes giving the knights a challenge, that’s all.”

Morgana shrugged, “Fine. See it that way if you want. But he cares about you a lot, Merlin. You have to believe that’s true.”

A small smile spread across Merlin’s face as he nodded, “I know. I care about him as well. More than I can say.”

“Well, I know that.” Morgana rolled her eyes, “The care you two have for each other is just so obvious, and the fact that it flies over your heads most of the time is frustrating to say the least.”

“Oh yeah? And what about Gwen?” Merlin leapt at the chance to change the subject, his smile turning into a sly smirk as he did so, “It’s becoming quite clear that you care for her a great deal.”

“Of course I do!” Morgana straightened her posture in defence, “Gwen is a dear friend, and one I hold close to my heart.”

“And the Camellia flowers in your hair?” Merlin asked, the pink flowers in Morgana’s hair matching perfectly to the purple dress she had chosen to wear.

“A gift from Gwen.” Morgana explained, fighting to hide down a blush.

“And Gwen gives you flowers often, does she?”

“Yes.” Morgana replied, her voice clipped and curt. She hated it when she was trapped in a corner like this.

“And you give her flowers?”

Morgana pursed her lips, thinking about the plant that she had tucked away at the back of her draw, where no servant could ever find it. She had been about to deny the accusation, but her reaction had been enough of answer for Merlin.

“I think instead of being so focused on mine and Arthur’s relationship, Morgana, you might need to spend some time talking to Gwen.”

Morgana, not entirely sure how to respond for the first time in her life, remained content watching Aithusa flit through the trees. There were times when she flew above them, sometimes even flying at their level, which would often frighten the horses. Whenever she decided to take off, she would purposefully smack Merlin’s face with her wing, clearly still upset about that morning.

The two fell silent, Merlin feeling slightly guilty about driving Morgana into a corner, but a part of him felt unrepentant. It was clear that the two of them felt a great deal for another. Morgana and Gwen had tried again and again to push Merlin and Arthur together, and, after a few dozen attempts, it had finally worked. So, shouldn’t Merlin help   
Morgana recognise her feelings for Gwen? Or was that to arrogant of him? Merlin wasn’t sure.

The two were snapped out of their separate thoughts when Aithusa came gliding back down and landed on Merlin’s shoulder so heavily that Merlin gave out a loud grunt.

“Hey Aithusa.” Merlin chucked, struggling to regain his breath after the wind had got knocked out of him, “Having fun?”

Aithusa chirped in his ear and gave it a friendly nip, one that was slightly more harsher than the kind that he was used to. Merlin tried not to wince and Aithusa took of once more, batting him in the face with her wing as she did so.

“Ow.” Merlin rubbed his ear as she flew out of earshot, “She hasn’t even got teeth yet.”

Morgana shot him an amused look, “She’ll get over it soon. You just have to give her time.”

“We’ve been riding all morning!” Merlin groaned, “All I did was wake her up a few hours early! It’s nothing to throw a tantrum over!”

“It is if she’s a child, Merlin.” Morgana countered, “And it might not even be that. It might just be pent up aggression, that’s all.”

“Wait. You mean…” Merlin’s face fell as he realised what she meant, “You think Aithusa’s been mad at me for some time now?”

“That’s not what I meant!” Morgana struggled to correct herself, “I meant that all the little mistakes in Aithusa’s life could have caused her to choose this moment to lash out, and   
you just happened to be the person closest to her when she did.”

Merlin looked down at his horse, absent-mindedly petting it’s mine as he bit his lip, “Does this… does this mean I’m a bad parent?”

Morgana looked at him shocked, but waited patiently for him to finish.

“I know I’m clumsy.” Merlin confessed, “And I’m a little forgetful, so much so that it’s affected Aithusa at times, but I’ve taken care of her! I watch over her, I feed her and look after   
her, but all these mistakes… they don’t add up to me being a bad parent, do they?”

Morgana sighed as Merlin looked over at her, his eyes filled with concern, “Merlin, you’re not a bad parent. It’s clear to anyone that you love Aithusa dearly, and the same can be said about what Aithusa feels about you. You’re the person who hatched her, Merlin. You’re the one who she’s bonded to for life. Anyone could have just left Aithusa in the hands   
of Kilgharrah..., but you didn’t. You’re not a bad parent, Merlin.”

Taking her words into consideration, Merlin nodded slowly and sighed, “I just hope Aithusa calms down soon. I’m happy that she’s so cheerful flying out here in the forest, but the harsh nips and hitting me in the face shows that she still hasn’t forgiven me.”

“She’ll calm down, I promise.” Morgana smiled, “And if she doesn’t, I’ll have a word with her.”

“Right.” Merlin nodded, “Because babies make a habit of doing what people tell them to.”

Morgana joined in Merlin’s laughter at his own joke and smacked him on the shoulder, “At least she listens to me more than she does you.”

Merlin stared at her, “You’re keeping count?”

“So what If I am? I’m a lot more strict with her than you are, Merlin.”

“That’s true.” Merlin hummed, smiling fondly as he watched Aithusa flying in the sky, “It’s getting to be midday. We should probably return to Camelot.”

“Agreed. Aithusa seems to have cheered up considerably now.”

With that, Morgana whistled Aithusa down and the three turned around and head home, Morgana conjuring flowers for Aithusa to give to her forest friends, and Merlin dreading the scolding that he was going to get from Arthur when they arrived back in Camelot.


	5. 5th December

“So, any reason why I couldn’t find you at all yesterday?”

Merlin froze at the sudden question, his arm hovering over the sword that he had just been about to sharpen. The question had come out of nowhere, as Arthur hadn’t given any hints to being mad at him for suddenly disappearing. Now, the morning after, seemed like the prince finally deemed it time to interview him.

“Aithusa was sick.” Merlin told him, “Me and Morgana noticed that she was breaking a fever, so we took her out for some fresh air. I know I was neglecting my duties in doing so, but it was important.”

“I see.” Arthur said, scribbling something down on his paperwork, “And where is Aithusa now.”

“She’s with Gaius.” Merlin replied, “Gaius was making a potion that had a smell that she really liked, so she wanted to stay there. Gaius said he would tell me if her fever was acting   
up again.”

Arthur looked at him sceptically. Feeling a blush rise to his cheeks, Merlin quickly went back to sharpening the sword.

“And are you still behind on your chores?” Arthur inquired.

“A little.” Merlin flashed an unapologetic smile at him, “But I caught up on a lot yesterday afternoon. I had a bit of help from my magic though.”

“And why don’t you use magic now?”

Surprised at Arthur’s question, Merlin stopped and looked at him in uncertainty. In truth, Merlin was still uncomfortable about using magic in Arthur’s presence because he was still scared about Arthur’s mindset, and that he might suddenly deem him to be evil if one of his spells went wrong.

“I wanted to do these chores manually.” Merlin grinned, “Spend some more time with you.”

“You’re my servant, Merlin.” Arthur rolled his eyes as he fought back a smile, “You spend every day with me.”

“Sounds terrifying when you it out loud doesn’t it?”

“Merlin.” The smile that Arthur had fought to hide spread across his face, “It’s sweet of you. But I can tell you’re lying.”

Merlin paused his work again and looked at Arthur, wondering what to say. They had both agreed that after his magic had been discovered, Merlin would never lie to Arthur again, and Merlin had happily agreed. Unfortunately though, it seemed like things weren’t as easy as that. Constantly, Merlin found himself lying even when he hadn’t meant to, the ten-year old habit not as quick to get rid off as Merlin had initially thought it to be. But he couldn’t just keep lying to Arthur. He had to make some attempt of telling the truth, it was   
only fair.

“You’re right.” Merin nodded, “I’m lying to you.”

Arthur sighed, and Merlin waited, heart pounding, for Arthur to start shouting, at how he had broken their trust, ruined their friendship and how it was all his fault.

Instead, Arthur put his quill down and leant forward, his chin resting on stapled fingers.

“Why?” Arthur asked, his voice riddled with patience. The tone was so unexpected to Merlin that it caused him to become even more wary. Why wasn’t he mad? Why wasn’t he   
shouting?

“Why what?” Merlin shrugged, trying to hide the fact that he was now sweating.

“Why did you lie, Merlin?” Arthur elaborated, “You’ve been lying to me on occasion, even after you told me you had magic. It’s not as often as it once was, which I’m thankful for, but there’s no denying that the compulsive need is still there. So, why?”

Merlin sighed, dropping Arthur’s sword on the table. The first answer that came to him was ‘I don’t know’ but Merlin knew that was another lie, and one after another was only going to make things worse. After all he’d been through, after all the deceit and betrayal he’d experienced in his short time as king, Arthur deserved nothing but the truth from his own loyal friend. So, after breathing in and out a few times, Merlin told him the truth.

“It’s because I’m still scared.” Merlin confessed to him, “Whenever I use my magic or mention anything to do with it, Aithusa included, I get scared that you’ll suddenly realise that Uther was right or if one of my spells went wrong you’d come to this conclusion that sorcerery had always been corrupt. It’s… ridiculous, I know, but everything’s so perfect now… I just can’t help thinking that something’s going to go wrong soon.”

The silence that settled after Merlin spoke the truth was unsettling, to say the least. Merlin shifted uncomfortably, not liking the way Arthur bit his lip as he pondered over his words.

“Say something.” Merlin begged, “Please.”

Arthur looked at him, his smile no longer there, “Do you not trust me?”

The question was like a slap to Merlin’s face. Merlin was about to protest, but Arthur beat him to it, “You still feel like you have to lie to me. You’re still scared to do magic in front of me. Merlin, what could possibly go wrong? What are you so afraid of?”

Merlin shook his head in shock, not entirely sure he had heard the other questions, instead, he answered the only one that was bouncing around in his head, “I trust you. I trust you with my life. With my magic. With everything.”

“Then why are you still afraid of me?”

“I’m not!”

“It sounds like it!”

“Because it’s not just you!”

Arthur paused blinking slightly at the answer that he wasn’t expecting. Seeing that Merlin had more to say, he leant back in his seat, “Go on.”

“I’m not just scared to use my magic in front of you.” Merlin explained, “It’s everyone. Gwaine, Percival, all the knights, even Gwen!” 

Arthur nodded slowly, “You’re still afraid to use magic in front of them?”

Merlin sighed, looking down into his lap “It’s been six months since I told you, so I know how ridiculous I must sound. But, every time I use magic in front of you, I just get a little scared that you’ll shout at me. Or the knights would draw their swords at me. Or that Gwen might become frightened of me.”

“And you don’t feel like this fear is going to go away anytime soon?” Arthur asked.

“No, I think it will.” Merlin looked up at him, his eyes telling Arthur that Merlin was telling the truth, “I think it’s just some stupid fear that will go away eventually. It’s just a ten year old bad habit, that’s all. I’m sorry that you have to put up with it, but that’s all it is. I trust you Arthur. With everything I have. And I don’t want you doubting it for another second.”

Arthur gave a small smile at the confession, “I’m sorry I accused you of such a thing. You’re right, Merlin. This fear just seems like an old battle wound, that’s all.”  
Merlin tilted his head at him, “Battle wound?”

“A force of habit.” Arthur explained, “You’ve got this constant fear that you’ve been carrying around with you you’re entire life. It’s understandable that you still have this constant need to lie because that’s all you’ve had to protect your secret for as long as you remember. I’m sorry I questioned you, Merlin.”

“No, don’t apologise.” Merlin straightened in his seat, “You were right to. Everything you’ve suffered as a king. Every betrayal, every deceit, every lie that you’ve been told. You were right to ask why I’ve been lying so compulsively lately, and you deserve nothing but the truth, Arthur, and you were right to try and get it out of me.”

“I should have never doubted your trust, though.” Arthur shook his head, cursing his stupidity, “You’ve been by my side for as long as I can remember, and the fact that I can still doubt you is heinous.”

Merlin shook his head, “A lot of people have betrayed you, Arthur. You have an underlying fear of people lying to you, just as I’m scared that people still might not accept me.”

Arthur smiled fondly at the person in front of him. How he had managed before Merlin had arrived in Camelot, he’d never know, “I suppose we both have our battle wounds, don’t we?”

Merlin nodded, “Perhaps. But they’ll heal with time, Arthur. You’re knights are loyal to you, your servants obey you, there are times when Gwen won’t shut up about how good a king you are, and even Morgana spares you a few compliments.”

Arthur smirked, leaning back in his chair, “And you?”

Merlin blinked, “Me?”

“What about you, Merlin?” Arthur asked, the cocky smirk getting wider.

A blush rose to Merlin’s cheeks, his hands shifting in his lap, “And I love you. You know that right?”

“As I do you.” Arthur replied instantly. Merlin gave a small smile at his answer that only grew wider and wider with every passing second. Arthur returned the grin and, after placing a small kiss on Merlin’s forehead, went back to his paperwork. After watching Arthur for a few seconds, Merlin picked up the sword and continued with his work.

O=II==========>

Gwen hummed to herself as she cleaned the surface of the table, the scent of the candle making her relaxed in such a way that she had forgotten what she was supposed to be   
doing multiple days. Smiling to herself, she continued to clean the table, the rest of the room silent with the exception of her humming.

She had been cleaning Morgana’s room for the entirety of the morning while Morgana had made the impulse decision of visiting the druid village in the west. Gwen had often wondered what she did there, but that was no business of hers. If Morgana wished to share her magic with her, then she could do so of her own accord. Gwen had no business pushing Morgana into sharing something she was still unsure about.

The rhythmic swiped of her cloth slowed down as Gwen paused in thought, a slight frown replacing her smile.

Why was Morgana keeping her magic from her? She had performed a few tricks in front of Gwen, sure, but… she had never actually talked about it. Did she not trust Gwen with? But they talked about so many things. The more Gwen thought about it, the more questions about magic she had. Why did Morgana have it? What could Morgana do with it? Was it pretty? Was it dangerous? Gwen slowly resumed her work, the questions suddenly consuming her. As she scolded herself, they sweeps of her cloth sped up.

No. Don’t be ridiculous. Don’t be stupid. Why would Morgana tell her about magic? Gwen knew nothing about it. Morgana was better off telling the druids about her magic, and how she was becoming better at controlling it with every lesson that she had from Merlin and Gaius. It wasn’t Gwen’s place to ask about how Morgana’s magic was coming along.  
Her sweeping faltered once more as doubts came in. But wasn’t it her place as her friend to see how Morgana was doing? To get involved with Morgana’s passions and support as her maid? As her friend? As her…

Shaking her head, Gwen whacked the table with her cloth and, letting her frustrations leak out, started to scrub the same spot so hard that her hands started to ache. No. She couldn’t shot any interest. It was Morgana’s choice to decide wether she wanted to share details about her magic or not. The questions that Gwen had would have to wait.

Gwen stopped her work suddenly, looking down at her thoughts came to a stop. When she removed the cloth from the table, she found that she had been scrubbing the same spot so hard that she could now see her reflection in it. When she stared at herself, she found tears in her eyes and a torn expression.

She didn’t have magic. Was it really her place to want to know more about it?

But she was a citizen in Camelot. A kingdom that now legalized magic. Surely it was her right as a citizen. Wasn’t it her right to want to learn about what it entailed?

Gwen sighed. She had seen Merlin, Morgana and even Gaius perform magic plenty of times, and every time her breath had been taken away. Every time she saw Merlin perform a   
spell, she had seen curiosity in the spell, slowly reaching out in a quest for knowledge and acceptance, not unlike her friend. Whenever Gaius cast a spell, the magic leaked out of him cautiously, as if once misplaced word in the incantation could cause a disaster. And when Morgana performed magic… her breath was taken away every time whenever she would see those golden eyes shine with kindness and integrity. With more and more spells being performed every day, Gwen could see that magic wasn’t evil. It wasn’t corrupt. It was part of the person who wielded it, sharing their personality and charm. It was what made a sorcerer whole, and the fact that a King could look at that at call it evil sent shivers down Gwen’s spine.

But some people could practice magic, even without being born with the great powers that Morgana and Merlin had.

Over the past few days, whenever she found Morgana casting a spell, Gwen had found herself asking the same questions. Could she do that? Could she hold such power? Did she want to?

Gwen felt her breathing quicken as the questions once more crossed her mind. She had heard the words that Morgana and Merlin uttered day in and day out and had repeated them in her head over and over again in her head until they were crystal clear in her mind. All she had to do was say the word aloud.

Shaking, Gwen snapped her fingers and opened her mouth.

Nothing.

Lowering her hand and finding herself panting, Gwen decided that she would wait for Morgana. Forcing her fears and doubts from her mind, Gwen snatched her cloth and returned to scrubbing the table with a new found vigour.

O=II==========>

“Gwen?” Morgana called as she opened the door, “Gwen are you there?”

“Here, Milady!” Gwen called as she made her way into Morgana’s line of sight. At seeing her servant, Morgana smiled.

“Sorry I’m a little late.” Morgana apologised with a little chuckle, “I wanted to make sure I had mastered this specific spell before I left.”

“Really? Which one is that?” Gwen asked, fiddling with her cloth a little. Her face beaming at news that Gwen didn’t know about, Morgana turned to her servant.

“Do you remember that spell Merlin said would take months for me to master?” Gwen didn’t but Morgana continued, “I just managed to master it today, so it only took a few weeks! Merlin’s jaw is going to drop when I tell him tomorrow!”

“That’s great!” Gwen beamed, though she could feel how empty it was even for the second that it was there, “Will you be retiring to bed then, Milady?”

Morgana, too, had seemed to notice how forced the smile was. Morgana’s face of glee quickly became one of concern, “ Gwen? What’s wrong?”

Gwen considered her next choice of words carefully, not wanting to offend Morgana. Merlin, her best friend, was destined to be this powerful warlock who could shake mountains   
and tame seas. Morgana, someone she cared dearly for, had been granted visions of the future and powerful magic that could rival Merlin’s. Arthur, who considered Gwen a friend, was obligated to know everything that went on in his kingdom, and had found love in magic, through Merlin.

Gwen bit her lip as her silence grew more suspicious.

“Gwen?” Morgana tried again.

All three of her friends were changing with the kingdom, adapting to let magic play a big part in their lives. So where did that leave her? She was just a servant.

“Gwen?” Morgana was getting alarmed.

The worry that was evident in Morgana’s voice snapped Gwen out of her thoughts and brought her back to the present.

“I’m sorry, Milady.” Gwen apologised with a hasty smile, “I just got lost in my thoughts, that’s all.”

“Oh. I see.” Morgana paused and smiled, though it didn’t hide the worry that was shining through her eyes, “What were you thinking about?”

Gwen felt her breathing quicken as the answer lay on the tip of her tongue. The kingdom was changing. It was about time that she changed with it.

“I was thinking about your magic.” She answered, “And I was wondering what you did to cast spells and how to use them and...”

Gwen trailed off in embarrassment as she realised just how little she knew about magic. She let her answer hover in the air for a minute, not daring to look up. When she finally   
gathered the courage to do so, however, she leapt at the chance to correct herself when she saw the tears in Morgana’s eyes.

“But my interest isn’t important!” Gwen tried frantically to correct herself, “Magic plays an important part in your life, and you talk about it so much I wanted to ask a few questions, but it’s also a private part of your life so I shouldn’t have asked and I should have thought about what I was doing but you just looked so happy so I got curious because I like seeing you happy and-“

“Gwen.”

The authoritative tone in Morgana’s voice quickly shut Gwen up as she looked to her mistress for a reaction. 

“Yes, Milady?” Gwen tried, unsure of herself.

Gwen blinked in surprise as Morgana crossed the room and pulled her into a hug. Immediately, Gwen hugged her back.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Morgana stepped out of the hug and held her hand out to Gwen.

“I thought you’d never ask.” Morgana breathed and, as her eyes glowed gold with the kindness that Gwen loved so much, Gwen gasped as she watched as a jasmine flower   
bloomed before her.”

“It’s beautiful.” Gwen breathed. Then looking up to her mistress, “Could you show me some more?”

Her grin growing wider, Morgana offered a seat to Gwen as she mulled over what kind of spells would enchant her servant the most.


	6. 6th December

With Arthur practically telling Merlin that it was all right to use magic in front of him and that Merlin shouldn’t be harbouring aby more ridiculous fears, the chores that Merlin had left to do that way went by pretty quickly. What with Arthur basically demanding that Merlin use magic and Merlin’s eagerness to impress Arthur, the chores that Merlin had failed to catch up on had been quickly taken care off, and the ones after that were then dealt with as well, leaving Merlin with a little time to himself, which was so rare Merlin found that he had no idea what to do with it.

Because of the free time, Merlin had opted to get some more sleep, and promptly crashed out on the bed, a whole two hours earlier than he was used to, which he kept pointing out to Gaius. Even now, as the sun rose in the sky after a late morning, Merlin lay in the bed fast asleep, Aithusa curled up and snoring beside him.

It was the best that Merlin had slept in a while. The midnight visit from a patient hadn’t waken him, nor the late-night visit from Gwaine, who had woken Gaius up in search of a hangover remedy. He hadn’t even woken up in the middle of the night to notice the thick, fat drops of white that had started floating down towards the Earth, only to pile up more and more into the early hours of the morning.

Aithusa was the first of the two to wake up, her nose perking up and sniffing the chilly morning air when she thought that she smelt Gaius making breakfast. Making sure she didn’t wake her master up, (she would get more food if she was the only one at the table) she slinked off the bed and slithered into the next room, where Gaius was making some porridge.

“Morning, Aithusa.” Gaius smiled as the young dragon clumsily flapped her way over to the table, “I was going to surprise you and Merlin, but I suppose their isn’t a nose in Camelot that’s smarter than yours. Do you mind heating this up?”

After pointing to the pile of twigs underneath the stove a few times, Aithusa got the message. After a few coughs and splutters that made Gaius wince slightly, Aithusa managed to cough up a flame that managed to catch on. It was a lot smaller than Gaius had wanted, but he wasn’t complaining. Looking down at the triumphant little dragon, Gaius tutted.

“I’ve told that boy time and time again that he needed to go to Kilgharrah to ask how you could better summon your fire.” Gaius muttered, “All that gagging and coughing can’t be healthy.”

Aithusa cocked her head up at him, not entirely sure about what he was talking about. Gaius shook his head as Aithusa scrambled back onto the table, “I suppose I’d better get this on the stove. You wouldn’t mind waking Merlin up for me, would you?”

After pointing to Merlin’s room for a few seconds, Aithusa finally understood and made her way across the room to Merlin’s door, digging her claws into tables and benches as she leapt her way across the room. Seeing the display, Gaius shook his head fondly and loaded all the porridge into the pot above the flame.

Aithusa arrived in the room and looked at the snoring form of her master, her tail swishing back and forth. She leapt onto the bed, the mattress bouncing a bit, before examining him closely. What was the best way to wake him up?

An idea worming its way into her mind, Aithusa purred as she got ready to pounce, her eyes settling on Merlin’s stomach.

With a leap, Aithusa bound threw the air and landed square onto Merlin’s stomach, which woke him up instantly and knocked the breath out of him. After recovering from the initial shock of having a baby dragon sucker punch him in the stomach with her full body, Merlin collapsed back onto the bed in an attempt to get his breath back.

“Morning Aithusa.” Merlin wheezed, “Time to get up, huh?”

Aithusa, still sat on Merlin’s stomach, chirped her conformation and padded further up Merlin’s chest, rubbing her cheek against his in a way of greeting. After a few moments of silence where Merlin got his breath back, Merlin finally returned the gesture by patting Aithusa softly on the head. Receiving what she had wanted, Aithusa leapt of Merlin’s stomach and made her way to the door, waiting eagerly for Merlin to join her.

Sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes, Merlin groggily sniffed the air.

“Porridge.” He acknowledged, smiling, “This why you woke me up?”

Aithusa let out a small sound as her tail waved impatiently behind her.

Merlin rolled his eyes, “Go on.”

Without waiting for Merlin to change his mind, Aithusa bounded through the door and back into Gaius’ room, where he had no doubt finished heating the porridge by now. Merlin yawned, grunting in frustration as his vision still remained blurry, even after all the rubbing he had done. Blinking a few times, he decided that it would be enough and set about getting dressed for the day.

A few minutes later, Merlin emerged from his room, his steps drowsy and uncoordinated and his hair looking like a wyverns nest.

“Morning.” Merlin mumbled as he started fetching the bowls for the now boiling porridge.

“Merlin.” Gaius greeted with a polite nod, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you up so early.”

“Well, you have Aithusa to thank for that.” Merlin mumbled, jerking his head in the young dragon’s direction, “Thought it was a good idea to wake me up by jumping on my stomach.”

Gaius chuckled despite the clear irritation in Merlin’s voice, “Well, at least you actually have time to eat your breakfast for once. I can’t remember the last time you ate breakfast like a normal person.”

“Probably because it never happened.” Merlin quipped, sitting down next to Aithusa, who immediately plopped down onto his lap. Out of force of habit, Merlin absent-mindedly started stroking her.

Gaius chuckled at this as he grabbed a ladle and started dishing out the porridge in the bowls that Merlin had laid out for them. Merlin noticed that Gaius had put a tiny bit more in Merlin’s than he had for himself and Aithusa, but he chose not to comment on it. He knew that his eating habits were just as unhealthy as his sleeping schedule, and Gaius had a point whenever he mention that Merlin really ought to work towards getting them back on track. For Aithusa, a smaller bowl had been placed next to the other two. Gaius filled it up and gave Merlin and Aithusa their respective bowls. Whilst Merlin thanked him with a polite nod, Aithusa gave a squeal of delight and plunged her head into the bowl, sending porridge everywhere.

“Aithusa!” Merlin scolded as boiling hot porridge landed on his shirt, “I just washed this shirt yesterday.”

“Merlin you have magic.” Gaius deadpanned, “I’m sure it’ll take little effort on your part to get the stain out.”

Merlin sighed as he patted the stain, trying to get the worst of it off so that the heat would sustain. Aithusa, now with a mouthful of porridge, looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes, not aware that she had done anything wrong.

“You’re right.” Merlin gave a small smile as he looked up at Gaius, “It’s not like she hadn’t done anything like this before. It just keeps on surprising me, that’s all.”

“Indeed. She’s more messy at eating than you are.” Gaius chuckled to himself as he took a spoonful of his own porridge.

“That’s because she’s a baby.” Merlin countered.

“Well at least she has an excuse.” Gaius shot back, “You make some of the most awful messes while eating, Merlin, it truly astounds me.”

Merlin laughs, knowing that there was truth in Gaius’ words. He was aware of his awful eating habits, and how there never seemed to be enough time to clean up after himself.   
Gaius had always refused to clean up after him though, so Merlin often found himself cleaning up his messes late in the night, after he had cleaned up after Arthur’s.

As Aithusa emerged her head from her sea of porridge, Merlin laughed at the sight.

“Aithusa, you’re a mess.” He took of his neckerchief, “Here, let me help you with that…”

Using the neckerchief as a napkin, Merlin used one hand to keep Aithusa’s head still as he wiped her face clean. Aithusa whined a little, but complied, her tail thumping as she waited impatiently for her chance to dive back into her porridge again.

When Merlin had deemed her clean enough, he put his neckerchief on the table and let Aithusa make a mess as he grabbed a spoon and started on his own porridge.

“It’s getting quite late now.” Gaius commented as he looked out of the window, “You might want to consider fetching Arthur’s breakfast soon.”

After shovelling a few more spoonfuls on porridge into his mouth, Merlin looked out of the window as well and his eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s snowing?” Merlin spluttered as he tried to swallow down his porridge, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Gaius arched an eyebrow, “I thought you’d already noticed.”

“No! This is the first time Aithusa’s ever seen snow… and snow means no training!” Merlin’s face lit up as he realised what this meant, “And no training means a lie in!”

“I don’t think it does, Merlin.” Gaius scolded, “Arthur may have to cancel training, yes, but it does not give you an excuse to be lazy.”

“Oh come on, Gaius!” Merlin whined as he sat back down again, “Arthur’s not going to mind if he wakes up a few hours late, will he?”

“I think you already know the answer to that.” Gaius said as he looked pointedly at Merlin’s porridge, a silent suggestion that Merlin should just carry on eating.

“I bet more sleep with do him some good anyway.” Merlin mumbled as he shoved porridge in his mouth, “Imagine how much more civil he’d be after a few good hours of sleep! None of this extra chores nonsense…”

“Chores are your job, Merlin.”

“The extra chores aren’t!” Merlin argued.

“No, those are punishment for not doing the chores that you are paid to do.”

Merlin mumbled something at that, but with his mouth full of porridge, it was impossible to make out what he was saying. Instead, Gaius returned to his breakfast and Aithusa,   
her breakfast having been finished ages ago, was now sat in front of the window watching the snow fall, entranced by the way it seemed to float down to the ground below.

“Like I said before.” Gaius said after his bowl had been scraped clean, “It’s almost time for you to go and wake up Arthur. I know his temper isn’t always ideal, but you’re just going to have to put up with it.”

“It’s not all bad.” Merlin lowered his spoon, somehow feeling guilty for all he’d said about Arthur, “He doesn’t give me extra chores all the time. And now that I can do magic…”

“I thought I told you not to use magic for your chores!” Gaius scolded him yet again.

“It’s okay, Gaius!” Merlin leapt in to defend himself, “Arthur said it was okay. And my magic’s for Arthur, right?”

Gaius sighed, rubbing his temples, “And Arthur thinks it’s okay for you to use your magic for every single chore that you have, is that correct?”

“Well.” Merlin bit his lip, “I think he meant that I could show him how I use my magic through my chores. But he never said that I could stop, so I’ll just continue what I’m doing until he shouts at me.”

“At the rate you’re going, I doubt that’ll take very long.” Gaius murmured to himself as he collected the bowls and dumped them in a barrel of dirty water for Merlin to clean later.  
Merlin made his way over to the window, where Aithusa was still sat watching the snow fall down.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Merlin smiled down at his dragon, “Don’t think you’d be able to fly in it, though.”

Aithusa chirped, sitting in Merlin’s lap. Merlin placed a hand on her head and the two watched the snow in silence.

“Come on.” Merlin said, “We better go wake up that prat before he throws a tantrum.

After several attempts of trying to pull Aithusa away from the window, Merlin eventually coaxed her onto the shoulder and, with one last goodbye to Gaius, Merlin and Aithusa   
made their way to Arthur’s chambers.

O=II==========>

A few minutes later, Merlin kicked open the door so hard that the door hit the other side of the wall with a loud bang.

“Wake up, sleepyhead!” Merlin shouted as Arthur stirred in surprise of the loud noise.

“Merlin!” Arthur groaned as he sat up, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m starting to miss your curtain calls.”

“But I can’t do those now because whenever I wake you up it’s still dark out.” Merlin reasoned, “And the curtain calls aren’t fun if I don’t get to blind you in the process.”

“I see.” Arthur groaned, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“Also, I checked to see outside already.” Merlin placed the breakfast on the table, shooing Aithusa away, “It’s snowing.”

Arthur looked at him, “So?”

“So?” Merlin echoed, “Arthur, it’s snowing! Look!”

Without waiting to hear Arthur’s opinion on the matter, Merlin grabbed the curtains and wrenched them open, revealing a large window and the blanket of snow that covered the entire kingdom.

Aithusa, seeing that her friend had returned again, made a noise of delight as she bounded over to the window, content to just sit there and watch it fall.

“Gods.” Arthur blinked a few times, “I didn’t expect it to be so heavy this early in the month.”

“Neither did I.” Merlin grinned in disbelief.

Arthur, seeing that Aithusa was distracted with the snow, quickly wrapped his blankets around him and made his way over to the breakfast, eating it before Aithusa could start staring at him.

“Well?” Arthur asked after a few seconds of watching Merlin stare at the snow. 

Merlin looked at him, “Well what?”

Arthur rolled his eyes, “Your chores, Merlin, you know, your job?”

“Oh!” Merlin realised, “Right!”

With that he got to work, his eyes glowing gold as he summoned the mop and a bucket of water to his side. Arthur opened his mouth, about to object to Merlin’s use of magic, but closed it the more he thought about it. He loved watching Merlin use magic. Not because it stole his breath away, but it also made him think about what could have been. If he had been born in a world where magic had been allowed. What had he missed out on? What wonders hadn’t he seen when he was a child? Just how promising did a world full of magic sound? Arthur couldn’t know for sure, but the way Merlin’s face beamed with excitement every time they talked about it made him certain that it was a future that they could look forward too. Together.

Not to mention, Arthur secretly liked watching Merlin do magic. The way Merlin’s eyes glowed gold in clear sight, the amount of trust that spoke volumes in his actions were incredibly important to Arthur, and so he let it slide and remained content to just watch Merlin do his work.

“So?” Merlin asked, the mop and the bucket of water now moving on their own.

Arthur snapped out of his thoughts, “What?”

“Your armour.” Merlin reminded, “Do you want me to get it for you?”

Arthur was about to open his mouth and remind Merlin of how stupid a question that was when he suddenly remembered the snow storm that was going on outside.  
“Um.” Arthur shifted in his seat as he was greeted with a quick-second decision, “No.”

Merlin paused, trying to hide the shock on his face, “No? You mean you’re cancelling training?”

“Yes, Merlin, that’s what no means.” Arthur clarified, “No training today. The weather’s to harsh and unpredictable. Call the nearest messenger and let them pass it down to the barracks.”

“Yes, Sire.” Merlin called behind his back as he crossed the room towards the door. Once there, he opened it up and signalled the guards that were there. After whispering Arthur’s message to them, the guards nodded and told Merlin that they’d pass it on down to the barracks. Nodding his thanks, Merlin shut the doors behind him and walked back to Arthur’s desk.

“There.” Merlin grinned, “No training. It’s a free morning, Sire.”

“You don’t have to sound so cheerful about it.” Arthur yawned, tossing his last scraps of ham to Aithusa, who wolfed them down with joy.

“A morning free of you beating me up for no reason, what’s not to love?” Merlin asked, smiling. As an afterthought, he then waved his hand to the side and the animated mop and   
bucket made their way to the wall before lying still, their task now complete.

“I never said you’d get off scot-free, though.” Merlin’s heart sank as a sadistic grin crossed Arthur’s face, “You do every chore that’s on your list. After that, I’ll give you some   
more.”

“And what are you going to do?” Merlin huffed.

Arthur paused. Free time. He had to admit, the concept had been entirely alien to him recently. What could he even do if he wasn’t swinging a sword. There was no need to hold a council. There hadn’t been any sightings of armies. Could he eat again…? Hm, he didn’t really want to…

Slowly, Arthur’s eyes drifted towards the bed. Of course. He was king. He could do whatever he wanted.

Arthur rose from his chair and, wrapping the blankets tightly around himself, strode towards his bed.

“I’m taking a nap.” He announced, flopping back down onto his mattress.

At the sight, Merlin snorted, “Lazy.”

“Shut up.”

“Bet you wish you could so that all the time.”

“I could if I wanted to. Want to know why?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m the king.”

Merlin rolled his eyes and, taking a quick look at his chores list, then another look to make sure Arthur truly had his eyes closed, he issued a non-vocal spell that got everything that he needed moving and doing the work entirely by themselves. As quietly as he could, Merlin made his way over to the chair. Now if he could just sit down without waking   
Arthur up he could finally relax…

“Merlin.”

Oops.

Merlin turned around to see that Arthur had his face buried in the pillows and his eyes still closed, “Get in here.”

Merlin paused, not entirely sure how to act. He’d been in Arthur’s bed a few times before but…

“I can’t.” Merlin quickly excused, “I’ve got work to do.”

“Don’t be stupid, Merlin, I know you’re using magic to do all your chores.”

Merlin bit his lip as he watched Aithusa trying to catch the flying wash rag in her mouth.

“So get in here.” Arthur shuffled around on the bed a bit to make room for Merlin. Taking a few cautious steps over, Merlin perched on the bed and, kicking off his shoes and jacket, slid under the covers with Arthur.

“Was that so hard?” Arthur hummed as he wrapped an arm around Merlin, “Knew you weren’t entirely useless.”

Merlin smirked as a question came to mind, “Is this going to become a habit of yours? Needing to something to hold as you sleep?”

“No.” Came Arthur’s rather defensive muffled voice from under the covers, “Now go to sleep.”

Merlin chuckled a bit, but quickly felt a layer of drowsiness overcome him. Vaguely aware of Aithusa diving under the covers to join them, Merlin smiled a little before finally   
drifting off to sleep himself


	7. 7th December

With a day of spending the entire day in Arthur’s rooms doing chores and playing with Aithusa, (much to Arthur’s irritation) Merlin had gone to bed happy and exhausted. Aithusa was just as quick to fall asleep as he was, curling up next to him and using his legs as a pillow.

The next morning, Merlin awoke to the sounds of the cluttering of Gaius’ instruments as his shouts made their way to Merlin’s room.

“Come on, Merlin, get up! You’re going to be late!”

Merlin groaned and buried himself under the covers, vaguely aware that he had shoved Aithusa of the bed in his attempt to get comfortable.

A few seconds after he had closed his eyes, a sharp nip on the ear made then snap open again as he took in the form of his angry baby dragon.

“Ow!” Merlin shot up in bed, rubbing his ear as he did so, “Sorry, Aithusa, did I hurt you?”

Aithusa grumbled and stuck her nose in the air, but apart from that, it seemed like Aithusa had walked away from her tumble unharmed. Merlin gave a small sigh of relief ,   
remembering the last time where Aithusa had twisted her ankle, and got out of bed.

“Come on. Let’s go wake up that prat.”

After getting dressed and fetching the prince’s breakfast in record time, Merlin kicked open the door and sauntered in, only to pause in surprise when he saw the sight that awaited him.

“You’re awake.” Merlin announced, blinking in surprise at the pacing form of Arthur Pendragon.

“You truly are the most observant man I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, Merlin.” Arthur drawled.

Ignoring Arthur’s sarcasm, Merlin’s eyes instead squinted in confusion, “But you’re not dressed.”

“And rid you of the honour? Why would I do such a thing?”

“You mean the horror.”

“I said honour, Merlin.”

“Really? Must have misheard you.”

As Arthur rolled his eyes, Merlin strode past him and placed the breakfast on the table, frowning at all the paper work that was next to it, “Was your paperwork pile always this   
big?”

Arthur sighed as his attention was drawn to thing that seemed to be ailing him the most, “Yes. With all the snow, people are facing problems with travelling to towns and leaving   
their houses. I’ve got a lot more paperwork than usual to deal with because of it.”

“And that’s why you’re up early.” Merlin realised.

“I suppose even children can put two and two together, Merlin.”

“And yet you can’t even get yourself dressed.” Merlin countered, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips when he saw Aithusa eyeing the ham.

“I can get myself dressed! But why would I when I have a spectacularly awful servant to do it for me?” Arthur defended himself, “And besides, I- Oi!”

Merlin laughed as some ham quickly went flying through the air, the projectile so high that Aithusa had to jump slightly to catch it in her mouth.

“Merlin!” Arthur scolded, “Why didn’t you fetch her some food from the kitchens?”

“I didn’t want to waste any time! Besides, I was already running late!”

“Oh, there’s a surprise.” Arthur rolled his eyes.

“Besides, it was only one slice. It’s not a big deal, Arthur.”

“But you know what she’s like!” Arthur countered, “She’s like a pigeon, once you give her food, she’s always going to keep coming back for more- hey!”

Arthur approached his plate and quickly got to the task of waving Aithusa away, who had leapt onto the table and had started sniffing the ham. With an indignant squawk, Aithusa   
leapt of the table and glided over to Merlin’s shoulder.

Merlin giggled at the sight, letting Aithusa nip at his finger affectionately as he patted her on the head.

“You might want to get that eaten quickly.” Merlin snickered as Aithusa stared intently at Arthurs breakfast plate.

“Don’t you ever give your dragon food that isn’t mine?” Arthur asked incredulously taking an indignant bite out of his egg.

“She doesn’t need anymore.” Merlin shrugged, “There’s enough on that plate to feed the two of you.”

“There is not!”

“Yes, there is, Arthur, because it’s happened before. Sometimes, before I wake you up, I give Aithusa half your breakfast, and when I give the rest of it to you, you never realise!”

Arthur narrowed his eyes, “I could put you in the stocks for that.”

Merlin shrugged, “Perhaps. But you won’t though.”

Arthur leant back in his chair as his knife and fork clattered onto an empty plate, “And why’s that?”

“Because you love me too much.”

Arthur scoffed and looked picked up a piece of parchment to hide his blush, “Even if you are going to insist of feeding that dragon my breakfast, why do you prioritise her over me?”

“Because she’s a baby?” Merlin asked as if it were obvious, “She prioritizes herself, Arthur. She yanks it out of my hand and practically inhales it. A bit like you, really.”

Arthur rolled his eyes at the insult as his attention returned back to his paperwork. Aithusa, making sure neither her master or her master’s mate was watching, quietly slinked over to the bed with the hopes of getting a nap in. Making herself comfortable, she sat down and quickly drifted asleep with a content sigh.

After a rather content silence of Arthur signing paperwork and Merlin awkwardly watching him, Merlin finally gathered the courage to speak up, “Um… do you want to get dressed.”

Arthur looked up at him, “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean what do I mean?” Merlin echoed, “You’re not dressed.”

Arthur looked down at himself and, seeing that this was very true, quickly stood up and walked over to the centre of the room.

Merlin, laughing as he made his way over to the screen, called over behind his back, “Not as observant as me, eh, Sire?”

“Shut up Merlin!” Came the call from the other side of the room, which only elected more chuckles from the servant.

After Merlin had spent a good deal of time smiling to himself every time he spotted a red tinge of embarrassment in Arthur’s cheeks, Arthur was ready and dressed for the day.   
Examining himself, Arthur sighed and, as he marched back over to the paperwork as he called out, “Not a word about this to anyone, Merlin, you understand?”

“Wouldn’t dream about it, Sire!” Merlin grinned as he made a start of the days chores, figuring about the best way to retell the story to Gwaine when they next went to the tavern together.

“And get your dragon of my bed!” Arthur ordered. When Merlin looked across the bed to see Aithusa fast asleep, Merlin shot a glance in Arthur’s direction.

“Why?” Merlin objected, “She’s asleep.”

“She’s asleep on my bed!” Arthur protested.

“So? It’s happened before!” Merlin countered.

“And she made a complete mess of it! She writhed around the covers, made a complete mess of one of the pillows, and charred the cushions.”

“Yes, Arthur, I know, I cleaned it up.” Merlin deadpanned as Arthur frowned at him, “But what’s the issue? That was when we weren’t in the room. If Aithusa starts acting up now   
then we can just wake her up.”

“I suppose.” Arthur bit his lip in mistrust of the baby dragon before returning back to his paperwork. After one of two signatures from him, Arthur looked up again, “So then why did she make such a mess in the first place?”

Merlin looked up from cleaning Arthur’s clothes, (he’d lost magic privileges yesterday when, in Merlin’s sleep, one of Arthur’s enchanted capes had fallen onto the prince’s face, woke him up and almost suffocated him.) “She was probably dreaming about something. Chasing rabbits or something.”

“Rabbits?” Arthur echoed, “And that’s a common past time for baby dragons, is it?”

“Yes.” Merlin answered, but then frowned, “No? Not a lot of baby dragons running around for me to be sure, Arthur.”

Arthur cast a furtive glance over to Aithusa when he suddenly saw her twitch in her sleep. Slowly, his expression turned slightly amused into very worried, “And Aithusa wouldn’t be able to do anything else in her sleep, would she?”

Not on the same worrisome train of thought as Arthur was, Merlin thought for a moment and shook his head, “No. She usually just twitches about for a bit, eats something and then settles back down again.”

“Right.” Arthur nodded, his expression turning cautious.

“Though she did set my neckerchief on fire once.”

“What?” Arthur turned to look at him, and in retrospect he figured that he wasn’t as surprised as he should have been, “She set your neckerchief on fire?”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t do anything about it?”

Merlin rolled his eyes, “Obviously I did something about it, I took the neckerchief off and stumped it out. I’d rather not burn alive, thank you.”

Arthur shook his head, still a little bewildered, “But you didn’t punish her?”

Merlin frowned, “Punish her? Why would I do that?”

“Because she set you on fire?” Arthur asked incredulously.

“She set my neckerchief on fire.”

“I fail to see the difference, given that you wear it all the time!”

Merlin tilted his head as he have the king a look of confusion, unsure as to why he was throwing such a big fuss, “It was just a small fire, Arthur. I put it out easily.”

Arthur sighed and massaged his temples, worrying for the safety of his idiot servant. Merlin, completely oblivious to the crisis Arthur was going through returned to his work. 

After a few moments of watching the sleeping dragon with caution, Arthur returned back to his work as well, but not without looking up every few minutes to check that Aithusa   
was still sleeping.

O=II==========>

Morgana hummed to herself softly as she walked the path that she had treaded at least once every day now, ever since Gwen had shown the garden to her. She had explored much on her own in her free time, and had been delighted to know that the gardeners also grew magical flowers in a different section of the garden. Intrigued, Morgana had followed the gardener there, and had found herself constantly thinking about the sights she had seen there ever since.

The flowers that held magical properties were there all year round, and Morgana had dragged Gaius there as soon as she was able to so that he could explain them all to her. Still being relatively new to magic, as it had only surfaced a few months ago, Morgana was eager to learn everything she could about it, often pestering both Gaius and Merlin for lessons and explanations, even going as far as seeking out the druids when she was eager for an answer that she didn’t have.

Now, after several tours that Morgana had practically begged Gaius to take her own, Morgana could now cite just about every flower in the magical section of the garden and their purpose. What stunned her the most about it were the colours: every shade of every colour was here. Streaks of pinks and reds painted the flowers that had properties of love and wish potions, yellows and oranges waved at her whenever she got curious about sleeping ailments and blues and purples beckoned her over whenever healing potions crossed her mind. Every flower she could name in every magical book she had found were present in the garden, and Morgana had been so elated when she first found it that she felt tears in her eyes. And to think, years ago, Uther had burnt the entire thing to the ground. It had taken an entire kingdom’s permission and co-operation to rebuild the garden again, and Morgana couldn’t be happier.

She sighed happily, thanking Gwen for introducing this garden to her in the first place. She had spent many an hour talking to the gardeners on their thoughts about the flowers and what use they had for them. She had also had numerous conversations with Merlin in here, who would often come in here to help the flowers grow and to hide from Arthur whenever he was hunting him down to do chores. Morgana smiled at the thought and returned to her flowers, content with her magic and with her life.

“Morgana!” The call made Morgana open her eyes as she turned around to try and figure out who was calling her.

“Gwen.” Morgana smiled politely, her heart fluttering as Gwen made her way towards her, “Did you need me for something?”

“Yes! I’m sorry for interrupting your walk my lady.” Gwen apologised quickly as she gained her breath back, “Well, I mean… not really?”

“What do you mean?” Morgana asked as Gwen straightened, her breath slowly returning at a normal pace.

“I meant that I finished my duties early.” Gwen smiled with a hint of pride in her voice, “And I… I mean I just… I wanted to see if you wanted company for your walk.”

Morgana gave a fond smile as Gwen fanned herself, sweat forming on her face after all that running. With Morgana’s silence, Gwen’s face of exhaustion became one of concern.  
“I mean, I can go back if you want me to! I understand that you probably came here for some peace and quiet, so it was stupid of me to come here and… I should probably go-“  
“Gwen.” Morgana laughed and held up her hand to place it on the shoulder of her maid who was turning to go, “Please, could you stay? I’d love some company.”

Slowly, Gwen breathed a sigh of relief and let a smile cross her face as she turned to Morgana’s side.

“Thank you, Milady.” Gwen bowed her head, her hands clasped firmly together.

Morgana rolled her eyes and playfully nudged her servant, “Now, Gwen you know you don’t need to do that. We’re friends, you know we are.”

Seeing her error, Gwen forced herself to relax as she sighed, “I’m sorry, Morgana. I should have realised that you must have wanted peace and quiet instead of chasing you and   
clinging by your side. I’ll go and-“

“Gwen.” The stern tone of her voice immediately made Gwen shut up, “You’ve seen me return to this garden again and again for the past few days. If I had wanted some peace and quiet I would have gone somewhere where I knew no one would find me. Now, would you like to join me in my walk?”

“Oh.” Gwen corrected herself, a blush rising to her cheeks, “I’d like that, Morgana.”

“Good.” Morgana smiled. Then, as a thought occurred to her, “I don’t think you’ve been to the magical section of the flower garden, have you?”

“No I haven’t.” Gwen shook her head, “I didn’t know if I was allowed or not. I always thought that maybe the magical flowers would be dangerous for people who didn’t use magic or… I don’t know. I guess I never really gave it much thought before. It’s ridiculous, I know…”

“I don’t think so.” Morgana shook her head, “You said you wanted to learn more about magic, right? I think this would be the perfect opportunity to learn, don’t you.”  
Beaming, Gwen nodded eagerly as Morgana approached a plant that was the shade of a dark purple.

“This is one that Gaius showed me yesterday.” Morgana explained as she inspected the leaves of the flower, “If the leaves are more yellow than they are green it means that the   
plant isn’t ready to replace itself, so hopefully… ah!”

Morgana grinned as she spotted the vibrant green of the leaves that were attached to the flower, “That means if I were to just-“

With a small grunt, Morgana plucked the flower of it’s stem. With a small gasp of amazement, Gwen watched as the plant grew back, as if it had never been picked in the first place.

“Could you hold this?” Morgana asked as she held the flower out to Gwen. Not being able to take her eyes of it, Gwen reached out and examined the flower that was now in her hand.

“What does it do?” Gwen panted, still trying to get her breath back after running and trying to find Morgana.

“Watch.” A hint of a smile played on Morgana’s face as she took Gwen’s hands and helped her fold the four petals inward towards the centre. Once that had been done, Morgana   
placed her hand over Gwen’s and Gwen found that she couldn’t breathe as Morgana’s eyes turned a beautiful gold.

Suddenly, Gwen no longer felt the need to breathe heavily in order to get her stamina back. In fact, she had never felt better. Her skin felt warm against the cold air and her legs felt strong against the ankle-deep blanket of snow. When Morgana removed her hand, Gwen’s eyes widened when she found out that the flower was no longer there.

“What? But I… that’s… that’s amazing!” Gwen laughed in astonishment, checking that Morgana hadn’t hidden the flower and was playing some sort of prank on her, “I feel great!”

“That’s what the flower did.” Morgana explained, watching Gwen’s reaction with amusement, “It was a healing flower that could restore stamina if the user was feeling out of   
breath. It erases sweat from the body and also provides them with minor help against harsh conditions.”

“That’s amazing.” Gwen beamed, “Everything about magic that I’ve learnt so far is amazing.”

Morgana’s smile showed teeth this time, and Gwen immediately knew that this was the widest that Morgana had smiled in a very long time, “You really think so?”

“I do.” Gwen nodded eagerly, “I… For the life of me, I can’t understand why Uther thought it was corrupt. Why I thought it was corrupt. How I could be ignorant and prejudiced   
about something I didn’t even know about.”

“That’s not your fault, Gwen, so don’t you dare go thinking that it is.” Morgana’s face turned to one of sympathy, “You and thousands of others grew up with the false belief that magic was evil. You grew up believing a lie. But now you know the truth.”

Gwen nodded, “Because you showed it to me.”

Hand in hand, the two walked on into the winter maze, chatting eagerly about the magic that they had missed out on for most of their lives.


	8. 8th December

“Good morning, Sire. It’s time to get up.”

Arthur awoke with a frown on his face, the polite and crisp tone causing his eyebrows to knit together with worry. Merlin was never this polite. Ever. Almost to scared to open his eyes, Arthur chanced it when the servant continued.

“Your breakfast is already prepared, and I have your clothes here waiting.”

Wondering what miracle could have happened to make Merlin this miracle, Arthur slowly sat up and opened his eyes to see none other but George, standing at the foot of his bed with his hands clasped behind his back.

“George.” Arthur grunted as a greeting as he rubbed his eyes and yawned, “Where’s Merlin?”

“You’re usual manservant is unable to make it today.” George answered immediately with his usual curt politeness that was just so boring, “He told me that he had promised that he would help out the other servants in decorating the Great Hall, and asked me that you would settle for no less than me as your replacement for today.”

“Is that so.” Arthur sighed as he looked George up and down. Merlin knew how dull Arthur found George to be. It seemed he’d have to be having a few words with his servant after   
Arthur had found him, but there was nothing new there.

“Yes, sir.” George confirmed, seemingly oblivious to how annoyed Arthur was, “He agreed to help the servants decorate the Great Hall with Christmas decorations.

“Right.” Arthur sighed as he got out of bed and walked over to where George was standing, “Come on, then.”

He had forgotten that the Great Hall was scheduled to be decorated today. Everything else in the castle had been decorated with a fine amount of tinsel and streamers now, but it was always the Great Hall that was saved for last, just because of how much effort had to be put in by a good majority of servants to make it look nice. Personally, Arthur couldn’t care less, but he knew that Christmas decorations were important in order to appease the visiting royalty that would be coming over in the next few weeks, and, since he had only been King for a few months, Arthur was keen to impress.

Arthur had never been dressed so quickly before, and he wasn’t sure whether he liked it or not. George didn’t wait for Arthur to be ready before he was yanking on one item after   
another. First his shirt, then his breeches, socks and boots. With Merlin, Arthur felt as peace whenever he watched Merlin take pride in his work, slowly straightening out the creases in the clothing as a small smile spread across his face. Here, George seemed to think efficiency was best, and his rushed attitude made Arthur feel alarmed in some way, as if he was going to be late for something. He didn’t like it at all.

“Finished, Sire.” George exclaimed as he stepped back. Then, with a grandiose gesture, “Your breakfast awaits.”

Arthur walked over to his table and started eating his fill of what George had brought up, which was a considerably larger amount then what Merlin usually brought up with him. 

As he chewed over a piece of bread, Arthur read over the last few pieces of paperwork that still needed attending to. In his peripherals, however, he could still see George standing there, hands behind his back as he stared straight into the wall behind Arthur. Growing concerned, Arthur lowered his bread back onto the plate and spoke up.

“Did you need something?” Arthur asked, unsure as to why George was standing there in a manner that Arthur would describe as creepy.

“No, Sire.” George said, giving his head a shake, “It’s just that you haven’t told me what my chores for today are.”

Arthur sighed, rubbing at his temples. He had gotten used to Merlin having his own system and knowing where everything was that he had forgotten to tell George.

“Yes, off course.” Arthur corrected himself, “You need to clean my armour, sharpen my sword and clean all the clothes that that are in the hamper. After that you can beat the curtains and scrub the floors.”

With a bow that went way to low for Arthur’s taste, George walked over to the armour and got to work, Arthur’s curt smile turning into a small frown as he watched him go.

Within seconds, Arthur had shrugged the sudden longing for Merlin off and returned back to his paperwork, which was a pile that was steadily growing smaller and smaller. The issues that were on the table were more or less the same, just that the reports were from different issues that had suffered varying degrees on casualty, depending on how much snow they had received. After Arthur had figured out the solutions for one problem, the rest came easy, and so it was only a matter of reading through the reports and signing them, all while munching on his breakfast.

About an hour later, Arthur rose from his seat with a triumphant sigh as he stretched. George, who had moved onto sharpening Arthur’s sword looked up with little to no expression on his face, “Did you need something, Sire?” He asked.

“No thank you, George.” Arthur grinned at his complete stack of paperwork, which was always a good sight to see, “Carry on.”

Giving a solemn nod, George carried on without question. Arthur, seeing that his armour had now been placed on a chair, walked up to it.

“George?” Arthur spoke up, “Could you help me into my armour? Might get some practice in before lunch.”

At this, George perked his head up, “But, Sire, you cancelled training for a few days. The snow’s getting heavier and heavier with every day.”

Arthur paused, frowning at his thoughts. He was the king, so he could go outside and train if he absolutely wanted to. The fact was, the knights would probably join him as well, and that could end up with someone getting hurt more than usual.

“Off course. I forgot.” Arthur admitted, “I suppose I’ll have to do something else.”

Then, an idea entered his mind, and Arthur’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. Seeing his expression, George tilted his head, “Do you need anything, George.”

“You continue, George.” Arthur smiled as he crossed over to the door, “I’m going to go pay my idiot servant a visit.”

O=II==========>

“Are you sure you’re okay up there?” Merlin heard Gwen’s voice as he started searching for a place to tie the banner.

“Yeah! Fine!” Merlin called back as he stretched up, careful not to drop the red and gold banner that he was currently trying to hang up in the far corner of the room. On the other side of the hall, another servant was doing the very same, the banner bearing the red Camelot dragon intended to spread the entire wall behind the wall.

“Just be careful up there!” Gwen called from the safety of the ground, “And don’t stretch! Climb another rung!”

“There aren’t any other rungs!” Merlin called out as he felt the ladder wobble dangerously underneath him. Gwen, seeing the danger, quickly gave a yelp of surprise and held the ladder steady.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Gwen asked as Merlin searched around for the hook he was supposed to tie the banner to.

“No idea!” Merlin called down below him, “Nearly got it though... there!”

With a cry of triumph, Merlin tied the small string attached to the banner to the hook that was permanently installed into the castle wall. With a little help from magic, Merlin watched as he manipulated the string slowly around the hook.

“There.” He announced as the strong tied itself into a nice little bow. “Now where’s…?”

Since that was only the string that was attached the top left of the banner, Merlin still need to tie the string that was connected to the bottom left corner. Descending a few of the   
rungs, he made a grab for it and held it securely in his hands while leaning a little to much to the right.

“Merlin, careful!” Gwen shouted from below, “You’re going to hurt yourself!”

“It’s okay, Gwen!” Merlin reassured as his eyed turned gold to make sure the ladder didn’t collapse on him. Honestly, how anyone would manage to put these decorations up with no assistance from magic and still remain in one piece afterwards was a mystery to Merlin.

As he grabbed the corner and held the small piece of string in his hand, Merlin made a small hum as he tried to find the hook to tie the string to. On the other side of the hall, the other servant had managed to tie the top right corner to the wall as well, so the banner was no starting to look fairly spread out and lion-like.

“You’re not doing bad, Merlin!” Merlin heard Gwaine’s voice from down below, “Little more to the left!”

“Gwaine?” Merlin called, not daring to look down to see if he was right or not, “Is that you?”

“Sure is, mate.” Gwaine confirmed as Merlin heard the unmistakeable crunch of an apple, “Heard you were risking your neck. Came to see if you had tripped over your feet and died yet.”

Merlin huffed, but didn’t answer, not daring to keep his attention of his balance for too long. He was aware that Gwen was also holding the ladder steady, but to be completely honest, Merlin trusted his own magic a lot more than he trusted Gwen.

“There.” Merlin muttered to himself as he once more relied on his magic to tie the string around a hook. Then, he leant to the right side of the ladder and shouted over to the over servant, “All done on my side!”

“Right!” Came the reply from the servant, who was still locating the hook for the bottom right string, “Be with you in a moment!”

His job done for the moment, Merlin slid down the ladder and landed neatly in front of Gwen and Gwaine, smiling triumphantly.

Gwaine whistled, looking up as the banner of the dragon got all the wrinkles straightened out as it was slowly spread across the wall, “Would you look at that.” He exclaimed,   
“Looks like an actual dragon this year.”

“Shut up.” Merlin laughed as he slapped Gwaine’s arm. He did have a point though. The servants that had been tasked with putting the banner up last year didn’t have magic to make things easier for them, and so the banner hadn’t been fully straightened out and still had wrinkles, making the proud and noble dragon look more like a crippled, drunk elephant. The banner had then been brought down by Merlin in his attempts to catch a rather rude person-possessing Pixie, and then had to be put up again correctly.

“Love a good bit of decorating.” Gwaine said, taking a satisfying bite out of his apple, “Always puts me in the spirit.”

“You’re not doing anything.” Merlin told him as he received the thumbs up from the other servant to say that the banner was now safe, secure and wouldn’t be collapsing on anyone anytime soon.

“I’m moral support.” Gwaine offered.

“You’re in the way.” Merlin supplied as Gwaine stepped out of the path of the seven servants who were carrying a large tree into the corner of the room that was opposite the   
banner.

“Gods.” Gwaine blinked in surprise as he took in the sight of the tree, “I didn’t think we’d be going that hard this year.”

Gwen shrugged, “This is Arthur’s first Christmas as king. He’s going to be want to make an impression on all the nobles. Especially at the Winter Yule.”

“Off course.” Gwaine nodded, taking in the room with a whistle, “Well, I’d say that the Queenie has his work cut out for him.”

“You mean we have our work cut out for us.” Merlin corrected as Gwen shot him a smile, “Prat hasn’t done a day’s work in his life.”

“Wrong again, Merlin.” Arthur sighed as he walked up to them, “I’ll have you know that I just completed a rather hefty pile of paper work.”

Merlin deadpanned, “You dragged your quill across the page.”

“No.” rolled his eyes, “I read the thorough reports of my honest and hardworking knights about all the problems that are going on in my kingdom and I have to make quick-second decisions and pray for the best otherwise my kingdom goes to the dogs.”

“And the Winter Yule? How’s that going along?” Gwen asked before Arthur and Merlin could get into yet another argument.

“It’s going along fine.” Arthur clipped, sending a glare at Merlin, “Decorations are in place and almost finished, the kitchen are hard at work preparing everything and scribes just left this morning with their invitations to our allies, so it should only take a few days before we know who’s coming and who isn’t.”

“Is that even a question?” Merlin asked, his eyebrows knitted in worry, “Arthur, this is your first Christmas as King, everyone’s going to want a piece of you at the feast. The banquet hall is going to be packed, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the busiest ball we’ve held yet.”

At Merlin’s reasoning, Arthur’s face quickly darkened, “You’re right, Merlin. This feast is all about first impressions. If I want to work towards uniting these five kingdoms one day,   
then impressing them is going to be our first step towards that goal, and this is the way to do it.

“Are you sure?” Gwaine said as he took a thoughtful bite, “I mean, the nobles should probably be satisfied yes, but it’s not going to be everybody’s cup of tea? People are going to want some sort of entertainment, like a play or a tournament.

“I thought about that.” Arthur nodded, “And if this snow keeps up, then we’re not going to be able to hold a tournament. With all the ice and the snow, people could slip and get hurt more so than intended. I’ve considered a play, but…” Arthur frowned and shook his head, “Even if we could get an amateur theatre troupe in here, there might not be enough time to rehearse a play that can be played in front of nobles, and if the troupe were to make a single mistake it would offend a noble somehow and they’d I’d be expected to punish them.”

Arthur sighed, and the other three felt like doing the same.

“What about a jester?” Merlin suggested, “There’s bound to be someone for hire in the market.”

Arthur blinked in surprise as an idea crossed his mind, “Or…”

Merlin’s face fell and he shook his head when he saw where this was going, “No. Absolutely not. No.”

“Come on, Merlin.” Arthur had cheered up considerably now as he wrapped his arm around Merlin, “Don’t be a spoilsport!”

“I am not performing for you! My magic was given to me to protect you, not for some party tricks!”

“And yet you somehow still use it for chores.”

“That’s different!”

“It really isn’t.”

“No it’s not!” Merlin shoved Arthur’s arm off and turned to face him, “Arthur, I can’t use my magic in front of the five kingdoms. You know not all of them are still ready to agree   
that it’s not evil.”

“And this is how we show them, Merlin!” Arthur responded with passion, taking Merlin’s hands in his, “If you can use magic the entire night and the whole feast goes smoothly, then there’ll be nothing that they can blame the magic on! It just might be the first step in getting the others to trust in magic.”

“But is that really going to happen with party tricks? I mean, they could just think I’m distracting them from something or-“

“No. I’ve made up my mind.” Arthur said in the tone that Merlin hated, since there was no arguing with him when he spoke like this, “You’re performing as entertainment for the feast.”

“We’re going to need to give you an introduction. Can’t really call you the king’s consort…”

“Arthur.”

“And you’re going to need some props as well. Some candles to light aflame, I don’t know…”

“Arthur!”

“And you’re going to need a costume as well! Gwen, could you-“

“Arthur!”

The sudden rise of volume in Merlin’s voice made Arthur stop in surprise and turn to him, waiting to hear what his servant had to say.

“What if they don’t like me?” Merlin voiced out loud, “Butterflies, candles, flowers… that’s not going to impress any of them, Arthur.”

Arthur’s features softened as Merlin spoke of his insecurities, After biting his lip for a few moments, Arthur said: “Then we’ll think of something else that you can do. You can stop   
time, right? And summon lightning storms, and push stuff around, I guess…”

Merlin sighed, letting Arthur get caught up in his own excitement as he thought about ways that Merlin could impress his audience. While Merlin couldn’t deny he liked the idea of using magic in front of other people, he couldn’t deny that he was afraid. What if something went wrong? What if a creature attacked them during the feast and the people blamed it on him and turned their backs on magic forever? What if he somehow did a spell wrong and got someone hurt? What if-“

“Merlin.”

The sternness in Arthur’s tone made Merlin gasp a little as he was snapped out of his thoughts.

“Stop it.”

Merlin, still a little stunned, blinked, “What..?”

“I said whatever you’re thinking, stop it. You’re going to do great as a performer. I’ll let you, Morgana and Gaius try and decide on the set list of tricks that you think will impress people the most. You’re going to do fine, Merlin. You’re the most powerful person I know.”

Smiling, his nerves calmed for the moment, Merlin allowed Arthur to pull him in for a hug. His regrets came seeping in though, when he saw the smug smirk that spread across   
Arthur’s face.

“Now, about that costume…”

Oh no.


	9. 9th December

“Gods, it’s cold.” Elyan muttered as soon as he stepped outside, wrapping his arms around himself, “Who’s idea was it to start training again?”

“Mine.” Came Arthur’s voice from behind him, “And don’t be so ridiculous, Elyan, we’ve fought in worse conditions than this.”

“Only when we’ve been forced to.” Elyan reasoned, his teeth already chattering together, “And reason why we can’t train in the hall? Better yet, somewhere warm?”

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this, Elyan,” Arthur started. “But it just so happens to be the middle of winter. There isn’t anywhere warm to go.”

As Elyan was about to open his mouth to argue, Arthur shoved a sword into his chest with so much force that Elyan stumbled back a bit. With that, Arthur strode off, leaving Elyan to get teased by the rest of the knights.

When Arthur had woken up that morning, the very first thing he had told Merlin to do was to go down to the barracks and tell the rest of the knights that their training was back on, since the snow had melted a little bit and was deemed safter than it was before. While it still took up the majority of the field and swallowed their feet, Arthur was so desperate to start training again that he had come up with the excuse that they never knew what weather conditions could befall them during battle, and so had forced Merlin to rise everyone out of bed.

“Right then.” Arthur drove his sword into the ground as the shivering circle of knights gathered around him, “Let’s start by fighting against each other to see if any of us have gotten rusty in our few days off. Leon, you’ll be fighting with me. Percival and Lancelot…”

Merlin, who was off to the side polishing the shields that were on the rack, rolled his eyes as he watched the group start fighting. Aithusa was on his shoulders, and would cast worrying glances at him whenever he started shivering violently.

“Don’t worry about me, Aithusa.” Merlin said as he tucked his arms into his elbows, “Just a little cold, that’s all.”

Aithusa made a small chirrup, but didn’t see what she could do. The snow had made all the nearby wood wet, and she had gotten in trouble last time she had set a shield on fire, so that wasn’t going to work. The best thing she could do was sit in his lap so that he could use her as a hot water bottle. With all the fire in her chest, Aithusa was permanently warm, which meant Merlin had developed the bad habit of cuddling her to his chest whenever he was cold.

“Thanks Aithusa.” Merlin shot her a grateful grin as sword clashes rang out through the battlefield, “You’re a lifesaver.”

Shooting Aithusa a grin, Merlin picked up the shield and got back to work, watching intently as the knights started duelling and fighting each other.

As Merlin had predicted, none of the knights seemed of their game. Lancelot was just as alert, Percival was just as strong, Gwaine was just as agile and Elyan was just as relentless. Leon seemed to have improved in their few days of, which Merlin wasn’t really surprised at. Since he had been a member of the knights before Arthur, Merlin had suspected that Leon probably still trained when he was off duty, somewhere in an abandoned storeroom somewhere where no one could interrupt him.

However good Leon was, Merlin still couldn’t take his eyes off Arthur, and, with the shield forgotten, Merlin watched with a small smile of triumph as Arthur disarmed Leon after a good 15 minutes of fighting.

“Nice work, Leon.” Arthur gave him a proud smile to show that he was also aware that Leon had improved, but you still need to work on your reflexes.”

“I’m aware of that, Sire.” Leon panted as he rose from the ground. Over by the weapons rack, Merlin lost interest and returned to the shield, “Can I ask where you think I went   
wrong?”

“It was when you put too much weight into your swing a few minutes ago.” Arthur told him, “While you managed to correct yourself before you went to far forward, the weight threw your reflexes off so much that they steadily got worse the more the fight wore on.”

“I see.” Leon bit his lip gravely, as if kicking himself for his mistake, “Any advice, Sire?”

“Well, Leon.” A cruel smile formed as Arthur remembered how Merlin had called him a ‘pratheaded dollop eating arseclamp’ before they had set off for the training field, “The thing with reflexes is that to have them, you need to not be a total idiot.”

Leon’s eyebrows raised with caution as Arthur bent down and started gathering snow into his gloves, “Sire?”

“The thing is, Leon,” Arthur continued as a rather hefty snowball started forming in Arthur’s hands, “Reflexes show how quick and smart someone is. So, to improve reflexes, you must be prepared for anything. However, if you happen to be a complete idiot…”

Arthur trailed off, rose and patted his ball into shape. Then, with a mischievous wink at Leon, Arthur turned around and hurled the ball at Merlin, who was still cleaning his shield.  
One watched in glee and the other watched in alarm as the snowball hit Merlin square in the face. Merlin gave a shout of alarm, promptly lost his balance and fell of the box he was sitting on, landing quite spectacularly on his arse in the freezing snow, Aithusa squawking in alarm and leaping off as quickly as she could. The other knights, who had heard Merlin’s cry of alarm, looked over just in time to witness the whole spectacle.

Arthur and Gwaine promptly burst out laughing, Elyan and Percival exchanging chuckles while they nudged in each. Lancelot and Leon, however, shared cautious glances with each other and braced themselves, as they knew exactly where this was going.

Merlin sat up groaning, wiping the snow of his face with his brown overcoat. As he stared at Arthur laughing, an idea popped into his head.

“You see, Leon?” Arthur chuckled as the laughter died down, “Nothing quite like a snowball to the face to test reflexes. See, Merlin’s reflexes are almost non-existent, since-“

Arthur gave a sudden shout of alarm when a weed that had been hiding in the snow somehow wrapped around his ankle and tugged him with so much force that he collapsed into the snow himself. Then, for good measure, Merlin made his own snowball and threw it, using his magic to make sure that it hit Arthur in the face.

“I’m sorry, Sire, what was that about reflexes?” Merlin called as he made his way over, “Surely someone would have noticed a weed wrapping around their leg in time to shake it off.”

Aithusa, looking for a place to perch since both Merlin and Arthur were now out of the question, made her way to a rather comfy-looking home of wild, brown curls. Unfortunately, this happened to Gwaine’s hair.

As soon as Aithusa landed on Gwaine’s hair, he shrieked and waved his hands about, trying to shake her off.

“Merlin! Get your dragon off my do!” Gwaine shouted as Aithusa cling on for dear life. Merlin, however, was now to busy running away from Arthur, who had gotten up and was now chasing him across the training fields.

“Looks like Aithusa’s finally mistaken Gwaine’s hair for the bird nest it actually is.” Elyan snickered

“Percival! Get it off!” Gwaine shouted. Aithusa, not exactly pleased by how shaky her new bed was, dug her claws in all the more. Percival, not one for working well under stress, panicked and, in a glorious moment of quick thinking and problem solving, formed a snow ball and threw it at Gwaine.

On one hand, Aithusa hated the cold, and had promptly flown of Gwaine the minute he had been bombarded with it. On the other hand, it had hit Gwaine in the face while he was shouting something, and now he was trying to wipe all the snow off.

“What was that for!” Gwaine shivered.

“I panicked!” Percival defended himself.

“You didn’t have to throw a snowball at my face!”

“What else would you have wanted me to do, pull her off?”

“And pull out half my hair with her! No thank you!”

Leon sighed at the bickering between the two as Aithusa circled overhead, looking for someplace to sit, “Right.” He started, turning to Lancelot and Elyan, “I think we all know where this is headed. So, why don’t we split into two teams and build some bases?”

Lancelot and Elyan grinned and exchanged glances with each other before silently anointing themselves captains of the two teams. Immediately, Elyan turned to Gwaine, who was   
still bickering with Percival, “Oi! Gwaine! Get over here and be on my team!”

“Percival!” Lancelot called as Gwaine ran over to Elyan, “I’d be honoured if you could lend your assistance, my friend.”

“There’s an odd number.” Leon announced, “I’ll just sit this one out, if that’s-“

“Horseshit!” Gwaine exclaimed, “Get over on the other team.”

“But then you’d be outnumbered.”

“So?” Gwaine shrugged, the promise of a challenge sparkling in his eye.

With the problem sorted, the three knights looked over to where Arthur and Merlin were. Their positions had changed, as Arthur had caught up to Merlin and had pulled him to the ground. Now, Arthur was straddling Merlin and shoving snow down his neck while Merlin laughed and tried to get free.

“Oi, you two!” Gwaine shouted, “Put it back in your pants and pick a team!”

As Arthur looked over to see what they were going on about, Merlin used the opportunity to pile snow into Arthur’s hair and wriggle free. Jogging over to the other knights, Merlin   
took a moment to catch his breath and try to figure out what was going on.

“What’s happening?” He panted as Arthur caught up to him.

O=II==========>

About an hour later, any plans that Arthur did have for training had now been thrown out of the window in favour of a snow ball fight. Arthur didn’t mind at all and gladly helped Elyan and Gwaine build a wall of snow on one side of the training field as Merlin, Lancelot, Leon and Percival built a wall of snow on the other. Aithusa, looking at them all with a sense of confusion, had finally found a place to perch on the rack on training weapons and had made herself comfortable.

“Why are we the team that’s outnumbered?” Arthur asked as he heaved a large clump of snow and pattered it into place, “Why did Leon go over to their team?”

“I ordered him to.” Gwaine said as he made the arsenal of snowballs that they’d be using in the fight, “I like a challenge.”

“They have a warlock on the team, that’s more than enough.”

Again, Gwaine shrugged, “I like a challenge.” He repeated with a smirk and a glint in his eyes.

Glad to know that their chances of winning had been severely harmed by Gwaine’s idiocy, Arthur rolled his eyes and ran his hands through the top of the wall, checking its height   
and making sure that it would cover them in times of need. While he did so, Elyan looked over the top and studied the other team.

“Their wall is taller than ours.” He observed, looking to Arthur.

“Probably because they have four people on their team.” Arthur responded as he shot a glare at Gwaine.

Elyan nodded and then looked over to where Aithusa was sitting, “Think we could persuade Aithusa to join our team?”

“Probably not. She only listens to Merlin.”

“She listens to you sometimes.”

“Only when I promise her food.”

“Well?” Elyan looked over to him, his eyes expectant. Arthur sighed, his shoulders heaving up and down dramatically as he did so.

“I refused to give her any ham this morning. She’s not going to help us.”

Gwaine chuckled at their conversation, “She’s quickly learning the advantages of bribery, I see. That child is learning quickly.”

“With her smarts and her stomach combined, I worry for the rations of Camelot.” Arthur admitted as he watched Merlin using his magic to form one perfectly spherical snowball after another.

“Don’t worry. Merlin’s raising her. She’ll probably start crying once she’s killed her first rat.” Gwaine remarked, watching as Aithusa spread her wings and looked longingly at a bird who had taken to the sky, “And then Merlin will congratulate her, feed her all the ham she could want and give the rat to you.” He finished with a surly grin.

Arthur hummed, not bothering to mention the fact that Aithusa had already killed multiple rats, and didn’t seem to regret anything she had done. Arthur recalled the few times   
that he had seen Merlin scolding Aithusa in his dragonlord voice, and how primal it had sounded. Deep down, Arthur wasn’t surprised that Aithusa had a knack for killing, and could be surprisingly bloodthirsty when she had to be. Not for the first time, Arthur was exceedingly grateful that Merlin and Aithusa were on their side.

Arthur tensed a little when the four others started arming themselves. Their base had been surrounded by the piles of snowballs that Merlin had managed to make.

“Seems like the others have planned their attack.” Elyan stated as he patted sown his own snowball, “Shall we meet them head on, Sire?”

Arthur and Gwaine shared a grin as they picked up their own snowballs with both hands and charged.

Arthur immediately went for Merlin, the servant having the same idea, and they were soon crashing into each other as they met in the middle of the training field as snowballs flew   
around them. Merlin laughed as he smashed one of the snowballs into Arthur’s face and, using the moment of surprise to his advantage, rolled on top of Arthur and pressed his second snowball onto Arthur’s chest. In a brief flash of gold, two more snowballs flew over from their camp and into his hands.

Coughing and spluttering in surprise, Arthur felt himself getting pinned to the ground as to more snowballs made their way into Merlin’s hands.

“That’s not fair!” Arthur found himself saying, not caring as to how whiny it sounded.

“Apologies, Sire, but it must be done.” Merlin grinned, his eyes twinkling with glee, “How else are we going to test your reflexes?”

One thing that Merlin didn’t take into account, however, was the fact that Arthur had around ten years of training in his belt, and that had caused fifteen methods to come to mind on how he could get out of Merlin’s grip without causing any harm to come to the boy.

Within the blink on an eye, Arthur had grabbed Merlin’s arm, twisted it, thrown him of balance and rolled Merlin over again.

“Problem with something?” Arthur asked innocently as Merlin let out a groan of frustration.

“Prat.” Merlin managed as he aimed a snowball at Arthur’s head. What with the strange angle, however, the snowball mostly missed, only a few spatterings of snow slipping their way down Arthur’s hair and onto Merlin’s face.

“Come now, Merlin.” Arthur smirked, “There’s no shame in admitting that you’ve lost your king.”

“Or for a king to admit he’s lost to his servant.” Merlin shot him a grin before his eyes flashed gold, “Aithusa!”

Arthur only just put two and two together before he looked up to see Aithusa had gone from her usual perch. When he looked up even higher, he saw Aithusa circling above, a single snowball well on it’s way to hitting Arthur’s head.

As it did so, the impact dazing Arthur a little, Merlin used the opportunity to wiggle free and take off, Aithusa joining him in triumph. Finding that his smile was only growing wider, Arthur took off after them.

“This is for my hair!” Gwaine shouted as he lobbed a snowball at Percival’s nose, “And for all the wrongdoings you’ve caused it!”

“When have I ever damaged your hair?” Percival asked, batting the snowball away with his arm alone.

“Three seconds ago!” Gwaine answered as he threw yet another snowball at Percival and then crouch down to reload.

“Has that alcohol of yours permanently damaged your brain?” Percival asked, once again swatting the snowball away with his muscles alone, “Your hair wasn’t damaged when   
Aithusa landed in it.”

“She could have pooped in it!” Gwaine worried, “Or burped in it or- stop hitting my snowballs!”

“What?” Percival said as he yet again slapped a snowball away.

“Your massive tree trunk arms are impossible to hit!” Gwaine groaned in frustration, “Why did I pick to go up against you?”

“You said you liked a challenge.” Percival smiled, tossing his own snowball into Gwaine’s chest.

Gwaine groaned.

Elyan shook his head in surprise as two snowballs, one from Lancelot and the other from Leon, hit him square in the face.

“We shouldn’t be teaming up against him like this.” Lancelot said as he picked up another snowball from their pile, “It isn’t right.”

“Perhaps.” Leon nodded, “But it’s fun though. And it’s not like Elyan’s going to hate us any less because of it.

Leon leapt to the side to avoid the snowball that Elyan had thrown at him, but the snowball that he had aimed at Lance hit him square in the face. As soon as his attack had hit   
home, Elyan dived back behind the base.

“I suppose so.” Lance spat the snow out of mouth and shook it from his hair, “Besides, I think Elyan is handling us both rather well.”

“He is.” Leon smiled as he ducked a soaring snowball, “I’m not entirely sure if Arthur intended this, but I think this fight is helping us in some way.”

“Really? How so?” Lancelot asked as he tried his luck by throwing a snowball at the base. It only just hit the top, with some of the snow skidding over the wall.

Leon shot him a grin, “Reflex training.”

Laughing, the seven ran around the training field, continuing the snowball fight well into the afternoon.


	10. 10th December

Arthur watched in curious boredom as objects flew every which way around the room. After the snow fight yesterday, both Arthur and Merlin had trudged back into Arthur’s chambers soaking wet, thrown their clothes into a corner of the room, gotten into sleeping clothes and had left their duties until the morning. Now that morning had arrived, Arthur watched from a replenished pile of paperwork as Merlin washed the frozen snow and grime from both of their clothes. As he did that, buckets of water and multiple wash rags flew around the room as they cleaned the floors and the walls, manipulated by Merlin’s magic.

Checking under the table at a sudden dampness that was spreading on his ankle, Arthur gave a short gasp of surprise as he found a wash rag scrubbing the floor around him, and had placed one of it’s tatty corners on it’s ankle as a silent request of lifting his feet. Doing so, Arthur watched in bewilderment as the rug quickly swabbed the floor where his feet had previously been, did a slight bow to Arthur after it had finished, and then flew off to restore itself in a bucket of water. Arthur placed his feet back down on the now polished floor and looked over to Merlin, who was still washing clothes and had missed the whole thing.

Even when Merlin wasn’t aware of his magic, it was still loyal to the king. With a small smile on his face, Arthur picked up his quill and returned to his work as two of the washing rags Merlin had enchanted got to work in scrubbing his chair.

A few minutes later, a sudden frown spread on Arthur’s face when he felt a drop of water on his head. Looking up, Arthur’s eyebrows knitted with worry as he found one of the clothes hovering above his head.

“Merlin?” Arthur asked, “What’s this one doing?”

Merlin looked over, saw the wash cloth splashing drips of water onto Arthur’s face and put two and two together.

“It must be waiting for something.” Merlin figured, “Probably for you to get out of the way.”

“I’m not moving, I have work to do!” Arthur scowled up at the cloth.

Merlin rolled his eyes, “It probably just wants to clean the desk. It’ll only take a minute.”

“I don’t have a minute!” Arthur exclaimed, “This paperwork needs to be complete before the council meeting this afternoon. Besides, the desk is perfectly clean!”

At this remark, Merlin took his eyes of the cloth and frowned at Arthur, “Is it? You did just have breakfast.”

“So?”

“You are a bit of a messy eater.”

“I am not!”

“Remember that time the pie grease messed up the ink in your archery speech so you said shit instead of shot?”

“That was once, Merlin!”

“Or when you-“

“Merlin!”

Stifling his laughter, Merlin recomposed himself with a raise of his eyebrow as Arthur eventually complied and rose out of his chair.

A few moments later, the cloth moved cautiously downwards towards the desk, where Merlin could see crumbs even from across the room.

“Hold on.” Merlin said. The cloth paused as Merlin’s eyes glowed gold. Simultaneously, all of Arthur’s paper work flew off the desk and hovered around the room. When Merlin   
nodded to the cloth, it reanimated itself again, and Arthur watched in amazement as the cloth swept the table, picking up the crumbs in it’s wake and then flew off. When Arthur tried looking closer, he could see that the streaks of water that the cloth had left behind were slowly drying.

“There.” Merlin said as the cloth now started paying attention to the bedposts. Arthur watched as the cloth examined the bedposts with curiosity and then used a corner of itself to wave to a couple of his friends. The friends that had noticed his little gesture for help flew over to him immediately, and all three of them were soon rubbing the bedposts in such a phallic manner that Arthur couldn’t help but think that Merlin was partially responsible. If he was though, Merlin implied no such thing. With another nod of his head, the paperwork diligently flew back down onto the table into the exact same place that they had been in before, shuffling a little bit to make themselves comfortable.

“Handy.” Arthur admitted sheepishly as he sat back down. Merlin gave an almost shy smile in return as he settled back down to resume washing Arthur’s clothes. Arthur found himself watching his servant for a while before tearing his eyes away and continuing on with his own work.

Hours passed in this companionable silence when the two of them looked up the second the door knocked.

“Come in.” Arthur answered, setting his quill down on the spotless table.

Two maids that Arthur recognised to be Sanita and Tarin entered the room. Merlin looked them over and, thinking little of it, returned to his work as the two held hands and waited patiently in the middle of the room, the animated clothes by now having finished all of their work.

“You may speak.” Arthur permitted.

“We came to report the disruption of a magic stall in the square, Sire.” Sanita announced as she clung to the hand of her lover.

“Disruption? How so?” Arthur encouraged. Sanita stepped back a little as she let Tarin continue where Sanita left off.

“There was a gang of children who have been stealing some magical accessories and returning them to the owner burned for the past month.” She explained, “This morning, it went a little far. The children publicly took the wares from the old man who ran the shop and burnt them in front of him. The dispute is currently being settled by the knights.”

“I see.” Arthur nodded grimly, “Thank you for telling me, both of you. You’re dismissed.”

Sanita and Tarin nodded at each other before bowing and leaving together hand in hand. Sighing, Arthur leant back in his chair.

“I would have liked to think that the hatred towards magic nowadays stemmed only from adults.” Arthur confessed as he closed his eyes, “Suppose I was wrong.”

“They’re only children.” Merlin said as he paused his work and sat on the floor, “Being told to hate something for the majority of their lives and then suddenly it’s ok to use, with their parents not telling them the full story? They must be even more confused and scared then some adults.”

“I know.” Arthur bit his lip as he stared at the ceiling, “So what are we going to do? We can’t exactly lock them up, they’re children.”

“We show them that magic isn’t something to be afraid of.” Merlin brought his knees up to his chest as his hands fiddled together with thought, “We could put some kind of magic show on? Perform some tricks, like I’m doing for the Winter Yule?”

“But the people are the feast will remember the time before the Purge and will know that magic can be used for good. Children would have only ever seen magic used for evil, and that’s going to make it harder to change their minds.” Arthur debated, “Besides, the ones that are causing the trouble are teenagers, not little kids. They’ll loose interest in childish tricks and that’ll only make things worse.”

Merlin hummed in thought and returned to staring up at the ceiling, biting his lip in thought. Arthur watched him as he rocked himself slightly on the floor, puddles of water from where he’d made a mess surrounding him. Secretly, Arthur smiled to himself. Seems like he wasn’t the only one who made a mess. The smile dropped when Merlin’s gaze returned to him.

“How about we take our focus of trying to change the teenagers minds?” Merlin leant forward, crossing his legs again, “How about we aim towards the children in general? Tell them about good sorcerers and the deeds that they’ve done in the past.”

Arthur pursed his lips, “Merlin, that might not work. The younger children might believe in it, sure, but the older kids won’t.”

“Then how about we show them?” Merlin smiled, his eyes glinting, “Spread this rumour about this good-hearted sorcerer who treats people kindly and nobly, and gives gifts to the ones who believe in magic.”

Arthur raised his eyebrow sceptically, “Gifts?”

“Children love gifts!” Merlin defended, “We start spreading this tale that if all of the children learn that magic can be used for good and treat everyone as equals for the entire year, then at the end of the year, this good-natured sorcerer gives them all gifts as a thank you!”

“And how do we show them that?” Arthur watched Merlin, smiling at the way his hands moved to express his excitement, or whenever he stuttered whenever an idea hadn’t quite formed in his head yet.

“We give them gifts!” Merlin said, “At the end of this year!”

“All of them?” Arthur’s eyebrows raised again, “Every child in Camelot?”

“We’d have to get adults in on it.” Merlin fell silent as he pondered a solution, “Do you think you could send your guards out?”

“My guards? To spread this story about a sorcerer who gives gifts to children?”

“Yes.”

“Merlin, that’s not what they’re for.”

“We’re not under attack right now!” Merlin pleaded, “They can sort of… tell the parents to get their children a gift and say it’s from a sorcerer, can’t they?”

“And this is how we get children to learn that magic is good? We bribe them?”

“We’re not bribing them.” Merlin was standing up now, pacing the room as he tried to keep up with his idea, “We’re just… teaching children that the gifts are not important, but it’s the people who give you the gifts who are kind, just and should be appreciated.”

“And this will make them trust magic users?”

“It’ll be the first step.” Merlin suggested, pausing at the centre of the room.

Arthur shook his head, bewildered, still unsure of what to make off it, “Well, it’s not your most insane idea.” He said, “But we still have the Winter Yule to worry about, adding this onto everyone else’s plate is just more to worry about.”

“The Winter Yule is the castle’s problem.” Merlin explained, “If every parent is giving their children a gift, then we don’t really have to do much work, do we?”

Arthur leant back in his chair, nodding to himself, “And when would it be? This tradition of yours.”

“At then end of every year, but only if the child’s been good.” Merlin nodded slowly to himself as he thought, “If they were bad they could have… firewood or something.”

“Yes, but when?”

“Not after Winter Yule.” Merlin confirmed, his forehead scrunching up in a way that Arthur found incredibly cute, “A few days before that, to give everyone the opportunity to prepare for the big feast. Maybe… uh… a week before? So that’s… the 25th?”

“You want the 25th to be your weird gift-giving day?” Arthur licked his lip, still shaking his head, “I have no idea if this is will do what you want it to, but it’s not such a bad idea. Giving children a gift if they’re good should help teach them the lessons that they won’t have time to learn when they’re older, even if it doesn’t necessarily change their attitude towards magic.”

“It will.” Merlin’s head bobbed slightly as if reassuring himself, “If the parents answer that the gift came from a magic user because they’ve been a good person, then it’ll encourage them to believe that magic isn’t so bad.”

“One more thing.” Arthur said as he sat up straight in his chair, “Who is this sorcerer called?”

Merlin looked back at Arthur and blinked in surprise, “Uh, what?”

“You haven’t thought this through. There’s a surprise.” Arthur muttered to himself, “What’s going to be the name of the sorcerer who gives the gifts to children.”

“Um…” Merlin bit his lip as he searched frantically for a name, “Uh… what were the names of the couple that were just in here again?”

“Santina and Tarin?” Arthur asked, “What do they have to do with this?”

“Santina and Tarin…” Merlin muttered to himself. Then, in a glorious moment of word association, “Santa!”

“Santa?” Arthur huffed a laugh, “You mean you just… mushed their two names together?”

Merlin shrugged, “It worked didn’t it?”

“You know, this might actually work.” Arthur smiled to himself as he fiddled with the quill in his hands, “Though I suppose their must be a first time for everything, even with your ideas. I’ll bring it up to the council this afternoon and if all goes well, I’ll map out the routes this evening and send the guards out first thing tomorrow morning to spread the   
news.”

“If all goes well the market should be packed within a few days.” Merlin grinned, “It should be find to watch.”

“Yes.” Arthur replied grimly, “It’s also going to stink to high heaven.”

“What with the mess you’re constantly surrounded by, I doubt you’d have a problem with that.”

“And whose to be blamed for that particular issue, Merlin?”

“No idea what you’re talking about, Sire.” Merlin teased with a grin.

O=II==========>

Hours after the meeting, the quiet and withdrawn chill of evening found Arthur and Merlin in the King’s chambers. The topic of their new tradition had spread quickly around the castle, and had gained approval from the council and was talked about for the majority of the meeting and for the entirety of Arthur’s dinner with Merlin. Even now, their conversation was continuing, with Arthur sat at the table and Merlin pacing as a fire cackled and warmed the room.

“…and we have to teach the children to be generous as well, you know, like, in return, so, I was thinking that the night that Santa supposedly gives the gifts to the children, that   
they should leave something out for him as well, like an apple, or…”

“Merlin.”

“People like apples don’t they? Obviously Santa’s not going to take the apple, but the parents are going to want something for all their hard work, so maybe the children should leave out some wine? But is that going to be a bad influence? Or maybe the parents should decide what the children should leave out for them…”

“Merlin!” Arthur called out to his servant, who was pacing the room and brainwashing.

“Arthur?” Merlin asked as he paused, hesitant.

“Do you mind?” Arthur gestured towards his map, “Trying to think.”

“Me having a good idea? You trying to think? Suppose their really is a first time for everything.” Merlin shot him a mischievous smile as he made himself at home on Arthur’s bed, kicking his shoes of and watching as Arthur struggled mapping routes on the map of Camelot that was stretched out before him.

The meeting had run on for a few hours more than intended because of Arthur’s new proposal, and, after a few improvisations to the pitch, the court steadily agreed to try it out for this year and see how it went. Now, Arthur was hunched over a map of Camelot as Merlin brainstormed ideas for this new tradition.

“What if Santa flew around Camelot? Poor guy’s gonna have some trouble getting around the entire kingdom in one night. I mean, sorcerers can’t actually fly because obviously magic doesn’t allow them to do that. Though it does make objects float. Wait. Can I fly?”

“Merlin.” Arthur groaned.

“What?” Merlin looked over, “Do you need help with something?”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t need help in shutting you up, Merlin, unfortunately I’ve had to do that enough already.”

“You love it.”

“Shut up. And don’t sit on the bed like that, you’re distracting me.”

“Would you rather I sit in your lap?”

Arthur inhaled, gulped and ignored the question, his quill tracing along the page as he hurried the it along the paths of Camelot and into the outer villages. He was almost done.  
Merlin leant against the bedpost, watching him. The way Arthur’s tongue got trapped between his teeth as he focused on something, the way his finger would tap a rhythm out on   
the table whenever he was trying to piece his thoughts together.

“Merlin?” The tone was soft this time, caring.

“Mmm?” Merlin hummed, smiling at the way Arthur’s hair glowed in the candlelight.

“Go to sleep.”

Merlin’s smile fell slightly, “Why?”

“Because you’re a nightmare to deal with when you don’t get enough sleep. Now do what I say before I knock you out.”

Merlin paused for a little while, considering his options as the scratch of the quill filled the silence of the room. When Merlin looked over at Arthur once more, a smile crossed his face when he saw that Arthur’s legs were pressed closely together.

“No.” He decided. Merlin couldn’t help the mischievous smile that spread across his face when he heard the clutter of the quill when Arthur dropped it in exasperation.

“Don’t you ever do what I say?” Arthur sighed, rubbing his temples.

“Sometimes.” Merlin reasoned, “When your orders aren’t entirely thoughtless.”

“Go to sleep, Merlin.” Arthur repeated.

“No.”

“And why’s that?”

Merlin lay back on the pillows, casting a brief look at the mistletoe that was still hung above the door.

“I’m not tired.”

When he turned his gaze back towards Arthur, he grinned when he found that the implications that he had left hanging had caused Arthur’s quill to move just a little bit faster.  
His grin spreading at the promises that were now making their way into his head, Merlin took off his jacket and neckerchief, then pulled back the covers and clambered under them, drawing them up to his neck as he watched Arthur finish of his last few final strokes.

“Done.” Arthur practically flew the quill down, “The rest can be looked over in the morning.”

Grinning, Merlin sat up as Arthur strode over to the bed and pulled him in for a kiss.


	11. 11th December

“So, who are you going to the Winter Yule with?” It had taken Gwen a while to get the question out, but she eventually managed to summon up the courage to do so. Morgana looked up from reading her book of spells and gave a slight frown.

“How do you mean?” She asked. Regretting her question slightly, Gwen withdrew her hands from the table and started fiddling with them as they landed in her lap.

“I don’t know, I just… um…” Gwen trailed off, searching the room for the right thing to say, “I was talking to Santina and Tarin when they were in the kitchens and they said that they were going to dance together. Once they’d finished their duties of course.”

“Really? That’s good for them.” Morgana smiled as she made the flower in front of her bloom a few weeks early, “And what about you? Would you like to dance Gwen?”

Gwen straightened in her chair, choosing to focus on the flower rather than look at Morgana, “I was going to ask Merlin for a dance once he and I had finished our duties, but I’ll most likely get bruised feet if I dance with him for too long.”

Morgana chuckled, all to familiar with Merlin’s two left feet, “I suppose I’ll have to dance as well. Show those visiting nobles how it’s done.”

“That’s the thing.” Gwen forced herself to say, he heart pounding in her chest, “I want to dance with you.”

Morgana stared at her for a little bit, stunned, before her face melted into a smile, “I’d be honoured to dance with you, Gwen.”

“Really? Because all the nobles are going to see and they might judge you for dancing with a servant and I can’t really dance that well anyway since I stepped on my father’s toes all the time when I was a kid and they might judge me for it since you’re such a good dancer and I’m just-“

“Gwen.” Morgana interrupted patiently, “Arthur is already requesting that Gaius supply him with bandages for when he dances with Merlin. He’s not shutting up about it. If the nobles are going to look down upon his for dancing with a servant, then he’s going to raise hell. And I can assure you that I would do the same for you.”

The smile on Gwen’s face quickly grew wider as the truth shone in Morgana’s eyes. On the table, the flower’s stem grew a little higher, “Thank you, Morgana. I’ll look forward to the Winter Yule even more now.”

“Same goes for me.” Morgana nodded, “Now, about this flower… hang on.”

“What is it?” Gwen noticed how Morgana knitted her eyebrows as soon as she stared at the flower. Gwen bent down slightly to look at the flower inquisitively, “Is something wrong?”

“It’s this flower.” Morgana hummed as she checked it from all angles, “I could have sworn it wasn’t this high when we first started.”

“You mean it grew?” Gwen asked, “Can flowers grow that quickly.”

“No, they can’t.” Morgana shook her head, “Which means my magic must have influenced it somehow.”

Gwen pursed her lips as she studied the flower intently, “Perhaps it’s responding to your emotions?”

Morgana raised her eyebrow, “How so?”

“Well, I mean…” Gwen shifted uncomfortably in her seat, “Remember when you had nightmares and you got so scared that the window smashed? Or when Merlin agreed to teach   
you and you got do happy that the candles in the room lit up? I think that might be what’s happening now.”

“Is that what you think?” Morgana muttered, blushing slightly.

“Though it could be because you’re sick?” As soon as she noticed the blush on Morgana’s cheeks, Gwen fought to change the subject, “Are you feeling alright? Do you want to go to Gaius.”

“Gwen, I’m fine.” Morgana laughed, grateful for Gwen’s concern, “I think you’re right. I think the flower is responding to my emotions.”

“Okay.” Gwen bit her lip, trying to figure the magic out, “How do you feel? Is something troubling you.”

“No.” Moraga shook her head, smiling, “I’m happy.”

“So then…” Gwen couldn’t help a grin as she dared to dream, “Me asking you to dance made you happy?”

“Yes.” Morgana nodded, “Unbelievably so.”

Feeling her own blush creep up her neck, Gwen avoided Morgana’s gaze and dropped her eyes down to the flower, just in time to see it grow a few centimetres more.

As she watched the flower bloom, a question occurred to her, “Should we teach Merlin how to dance?”

Morgana, who had also been watching the flower, looked up in surprise, “Merlin.”

“Yes. Well.” Gwen’s hands started fiddling with each other as she tried to explain herself, “It’s just that he’s been Arthur’s servant for a few years now and every time he tries to   
dance someone always ends up getting hurt. Remember that one time he elbowed that fat old noble in the nose and Arthur spent the rest of the evening trying to hold in his laughter? If Merlin manages to hit Arthur or anyone else during the feast it could be bad for his reputation.”

“Merlin has a reputation?” Morgana asked, her eyebrow raising.

“Well, no. Yes? Merlin’s going to be Court Sorcerer in a few months.” Gwen reasoned.

“I know. Arthur keeps complaining about the paperwork.”

“Well, he’s going to have a reputation to uphold soon. If he screws it up now then people might not be able to trust him in the future.” Gwen picked at her nails as she stared at   
Morgana earnestly.

“You’re right.” Morgana agreed as she straightened in her chair, her next mission in sight, “We need to get Merlin to dance.”

Gwen giggled, an image of Merlin’s face flashing into her mind, “He’s not going to be very happy.”

“Tough.” Morgana rose from her chair, eyes alight with determination, “If he’s going to be the next Court Sorcerer, he needs to learn how to dance to impress people. And to avoid breaking Arthur’s nose.”

Smiling as a plan came to her, Morgana turned to Gwen, “Where should Merlin be now?”

Gwen’s eyed drifted to the ceiling as she thought, “He should be in Arthur’s chambers, washing his clothes.”

“Perfect! Let’s go!” Morgana’s mischievous smile grew as she grabbed Gwen by the hand and made her way out of the room.

O=II==========>

“Merlin?”

Arthur walked into his chambers a few hours later, only to find that there was no servant in sight, “Merlin?”

He walked into his room and frowned at the tub if water that lay in the centre, filled with freezing cold water and some still-damp clothes folded on the edge of the tub.  
Arthur’s scowl grew deeper as he considered what had happened. Merlin had gotten up and wandered off to do something else. Again.

“Merlin!” Arthur shouted again as he exited the room. The guard outside his door turned to the King and Arthur marched up to him, “Did you see where Merlin went?”

“Yes, Sire.” The guard nodded, “He left the room with Morgana and her chambermaid just a few hours ago. He hasn’t been back since.”

“Morgana and…” Arthur trailed off as his eyebrows knitted in confusion. What could his sister possibly want with his servant? Either way, it didn’t sound too good for him.

“Oh, and Sire?” The guard brought Arthur out of his thoughts, “It seemed like Morgana dragged him out of the room. He was protesting and didn’t seem too sure of himself.”

“I’m going to kill her.” Arthur muttered to himself as he turned around and stalked down the hallway to his sister’s chambers. As he marched, he banished all thoughts of what they could be doing from his head. That didn’t matter right now. What did matter was saving his idiot servant from the wrath of his sister.

O=II===========>

“Ow! Merlin!”

“Sorry!”

“Okay, let’s try that again. 1 and 2 and…”

Arthur stared in horror at the scene that had unfolded before him. As he had stormed into Morgana’s chambers, he had immediately frozen at the sight that awaited him.

There, in the centre of the room, was Morgana slowly trying to coax Merlin into dancing with her. While she looked calm and patient, Merlin looked absolutely terrified, and kept slipping up more than usual because of it. Gwen was sitting down and was taking the whole sight in with glee, trying to stifle her giggles behind her hand.

“Morgana!” Arthur spoke up when he realised that none of them had noticed him, “What are you doing?”

“Oh, hello, brother.” Morgana said is the delighted tone that she knew irritated Arthur to no end, “Me and Gwen were just trying to teach Merlin how to dance.”

“Again?” Arthur said, recalling two times where Morgana and Gwen had tried to do the exact same thing with unfortunate results, “You haven’t realised that it’s impossible yet?”

“Nonsense!” Morgana scoffed, “Merlin just hasn’t got the knack of it yet, have you?”

“I don’t think I am going to get the knack of it, Morgana.” Merlin sighed as he parted from her.

“You’re doing great. We just need to go again from the top.”

Arthur watched, horrified, as his servant once again was led around in circles by his sister. His performance was riddled with stumbles and subtle winces from Morgana, but eventually, after a good few minutes of constant panicking, Merlin showed signs of easing up and actually enjoying it.

Bewildered, Arthur made his way over the table where Gwen was sat and perched himself down onto the seat opposite it.

“Ridiculous, isn’t it?” Arthur muttered to her as he watched Merlin apologise to Morgana for the fourth time that minute.

Gwen, who had no inclination of ever talking to the King let alone having a conversation with him, turned to him in surprise and answered, “I don’t think so.”

Arthur looked at her, “You don’t?”

Gwen, who realised she had just disagreed with the king, frantically shook her head, “No.”

“And why’s that?”

“I just think that it’s nice. The idea that anyone, even someone as… bumbling-“

“Stupid.”

“Clumsy as Merlin could learn to do something that usually requires a fair amount of grace. It’s just a little… inspiring, don’t you think?”

Arthur tilted his head a bit as he once again watched Merlin stumble through twirling Morgana, “It would be inspiring if he was actually good.”

“He’s getting better.”

“After what? A few hours?”

“Well, at least he’s trying.” Gwen defended her friend, the fact that she was talking to the king now quickly getting lost on her. Then, in a sudden burst of courage, she asked, “What about you?”

Arthur raised his eyebrows at her, “What?”

“Why aren’t you trying to dance? You need to for the feast, don’t you?”

“Uh…” Arthur stumbled for an answer, “I can dance just fine.”

Gwen quickly covered a snort, “You think last feast’s performance was fine? You stumbled over your partners feet and then blamed it on Merlin, who was on the opposite side of the throne room.”

Arthur moved his hands around as he searched for an answer, “He was… distracting me. He kept looking at me while I was dancing.”

“And you?”

“I was looking at him.”

“And that’s why you tripped over your partner.”

Arthur nodded as he fought the flush that was coming to her cheeks, “I suppose it was a good thing that I did. I kept ignoring her, and it wasn’t Kingly of me. She deserved better   
attention.”

Gwen nodded, their conversation slowing down as they both turned to look at Merlin and Morgana, who were now laughing at Merlin’s third successful twirl in a row. When Gwen looked briefly at Arthur, she smiled slightly at the intent gaze that Arthur had on Merlin, and how Arthur smiled and laughed whenever Merlin did the same. She returned her gaze to Morgana, and quickly found herself doing the same thing.

“Come on, then!” Gwen found herself standing up, the sight of Merlin and Morgana dancing together filling her with a type of courage that she had never felt before.

Arthur arched an eyebrow as he looked up at her, “I’m sorry?”

“Let’s give it a go!”

“Uh… no.” Arthur refused hastily, “I’m bad at dancing. Always have been. I’m better off talking and-“

“Bet Merlin’s a better dancer than you are.”

Arthur stared at her intently and, with a stone face set with determination, he grabbed her hand, “You’re on.”

With a grin, the two of them settled themselves next to Morgana and Merlin and had to watch the two for a short while before they followed in their footsteps.

Arthur, Gwen found, wasn’t actually half bad. He stumbled a few times and miscounted often, but he wasn’t as bad as Merlin. Gwen smiled to herself as Arthur led her around the   
room. Still, she found herself constantly looking at Morgana, who was giggling at Merlin’s clumsy attempts at the waltz. When she looked up, she met Gwen’s gaze and a   
mischievous glint twinkled in her eye and she spun Merlin round.

“And… switch!” She shouted before practically shoving Merlin into Arthur. Gwen stepped back over to Morgana and watched as Merlin practically stumbled into Arthur’s chest, all four of them laughing as he did so.

“Hey.” Arthur greeted.

“Hi.” Merlin replied as Arthur kissed his forehead.

With the sudden stumble, the two took a little while to pick up the rhythm that they both had with their previous partners, but they eventually managed it, and the two of them took it slowly as Gwen and Morgana smirked in the background.

“Gwen thinks you’re a better dancer than me.” Arthur admitted as he held Merlin by the waist.

“Really?” Merlin asked incredulously as the polished floor caused him to slip a little.

“No. She was definitely joking.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“You? Better than me? No.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Merlin sniggered into Arthur’s shoulder as he let Arthur lead him. In his peripherals, he could see that Morgana and Gwen had started doing the same thing. Whenever Morgana would twirl Gwen, Merlin thought he saw the same dreamy look in her eyes that Arthur repeated teased him about whenever Arthur would kiss him.

“I’m starting to get dizzy.” Merlin said after about five minutes of peaceful silence.

“Want to sit down?” He heard Arthur’s voice.

With a small, non-committal hum, “No. Your shoulder’s comfy.”

“Close your eyes then. You won’t get as dizzy.”

With a lazy nod, Merlin closed his eyes as a dreamy sort of smile spread on his face.

“Look at them.” Morgana nodded over to Arthur and Merlin as she twirled Gwen, “Those two idiots are obsessed with each other.”

Gwen turned her head over her shoulder as she looked at the two of them. Merlin had his head resting on Arthur’s shoulder and Arthur had his cheek resting on Merlin’s head. From what she could tell, both of them had their eyes closed and hadn’t made a mistake in a while. She smiled, “They’re perfect.”

“They are.” Morgana agreed, “I’m amazed my brother found someone who could put up with his temper tantrums so well.”

“Well.” Gwen laughed, “You weren’t doing such a bad job yourself.”

“Perhaps, but he was driving me insane.” Morgana exaggerated as Gwen chuckled, “I don’t know how Merlin puts up with it.”

“They were meant for each other.” Gwen smiled to herself, “To be loved so thoroughly like that. For a person to dote upon your flaws, to worship your strengths. I know so many   
people who would give up anything to be like that.”

“I do as well.” Morgana nodded, “But those two deserve it. They’ve been through a lot together.”

A smile of nostalgia made it’s way across Gwen’s face as she remembered the times of a prince who was secretly a prat and a servant who was secretly a sorcerer, “Yes. I’ve never seen anyone as happy as those two.”

The two fell into silence as they twirled around to music that only they could hear. The shared laughter when Gwen tried and failed to twirl Morgana, and Gwen smiled and helped when Morgana needed to take her shoes off, since they had started rubbing the wrong way.

“Any idea what you want to wear?” Morgana piped up, “For the feast.”

Gwen blinked in surprise, but managed to keep the rhythm going, “No. In all honesty, Mila- Morgana, I’ve been trying to figure out what you would want to wear.”

“I can decide that for myself.” Morgana chuckled, “What to you want to wear?”

“Um.” Gwen shifted as she failed to come up with an answer, “I don’t know, Morgana, I haven’t really thought about it.”

Gwen watched as a merry twinkle once again sparkled in Morgana’s eyes, “How about tomorrow we go down to your house and pick from the dresses that you have? Even better, why don’t we take a look at my old dresses as well?”

“Morgana!” Gwen protested, “I couldn’t, I’m your servant-“

“Nonsense.” Morgana interrupted, “You’d look great in them.”

“But I’m not allowed-“

“Says who?” Morgana tested, “Arthur could care less about class, and so could Merlin. The court? Some dusty old men? They’re my dresses, and they’ll just attract moths now that I don’t wear them anymore. They’d look perfect on you, Gwen.”

Gwen ducked her head down, focusing on her feet as Morgana led them around, “I really don’t know, Morgana-“

“You are.” Morgana said as she rested her head on Gwen’s, “And that’s an order.”

Stunned, Gwen looked up at her as Morgana lifted her head, smirking. Morgana had never given her an order. It had always been please and thank you with her. But if wearing her older dresses really meant that much to her…

“Thank you, Morgana.” Gwen answered with tears in her eyes, “Truly. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

With that, Gwen rested her head on Morgana’s shoulder and smiled when Morgana rested her chin on Gwen’s head. Together, they danced to the music that only they could hear.


	12. 12th December

“What about this one?” Merlin looked up to see that Gaius was now pointing at one of the pages in the books that he had been pouring over. Merlin reached a hand to take the book from Gaius and quickly scanned over the contents of the page.

“No.” Merlin sighed as he gave the book back to Gaius, “A spell that changes the colour of what people are wearing might offend the nobles.”

“You don’t have to perform it on the nobles. What about on their servants or on yourself? It could be for a good laugh.”

“If I used it on myself then they might think I’m cheating somehow, and servants are even more scared of magic than the nobles are, having spells performed on them would freak them out.” Merlin sighed.

Gaius took the book back as he frowned, “Merlin, we’ve been at this for 2 hours and you’ve refused.-“

“I know!” Merlin shouted, immediately wincing as his voice came out louder than he had meant to, “I’m sorry. I’m just a little-“

“Stressed, I can tell.” Gaius chuckled, which eased the tension in Merlin’s shoulders a little. Soon after, though, Gaius’ face fell, “But you’re going have to choose a set list to perform sooner or later, Merlin. Otherwise you’re not going to have enough time to practice the spells!”

“I know.” Merlin sighed, shrinking in his seat a little, “But what if they don’t like what I perform? What if I perform a spell that’s remotely dangerous, and they take it the wrong way?”

“If they misinterpret it, Merlin, then it’s not your fault.” Gaius reassured, “And if there is a misunderstanding then I’m sure Arthur can sort it out.”

“But what if he has to because of me?” Merlin voiced, “What if the entire feast goes great and then I mess it up because I perform a spell that they take the wrong way?”

“I’m sure they can be talked over.” Gaius gave a small smile, “But for now let’s focus on what spells you should perform and the feast and then work our way up from there.

Merlin nodded and went back to the book he was reading, flicking through spells about turning invisible, stopping time and shaping the clouds.

Occasionally, Gaius would suggest a spell from his own book for Merlin to take a look at. However, it didn’t take Merlin long to refuse the spell and they were back to square one.

“Here.” Gaius spoke up again after a short silence of flicking pages, “How about this one.”

Merlin hummed slightly as he inspected the page, and Gaius watched in satisfaction as his eyes narrowed, “Hold on.”

Merlin took the book from Gaius and read the contents of the spells. Nodding slowly, Gaius heard him murmur the spell out loud, as if he were tasting how it felt on his tongue.

“This could work.” Merlin muttered after a while, “If I practise it a bunch and figure out how to punctuate it then…” He trailed off slightly as he scanned the page once more, smiling to himself, “This could work.”

“Right. Do you want to practise this now then or look for some more spells to add to the setlist?” Gaius asked, taking the book from Merlin and reading the spell again, “This spell doesn’t look to tricky. If you want to get the hang off it before we move onto any more spells then-“

“Yes.” Merlin nodded, rising from his seat, “That’s what we’ll do.”

Taking the book from Gaius, Merlin stood in the centre of the room and read the spell over again.

The spell was easy enough, and, if Merlin were to perform it correctly, it should result in a flock of butterflies, all of different colours, sizes and shapes to form. Merlin was hoping that, when he had gotten the basics of the spell down, he could control them even further and have them perform more tricks before setting them free.

“Let’s see…” Merlin murmured as his eyes traced the spell once more, “Gewyrcan lif”

Suddenly, around five or so butterflies appeared and dropped to the ground, one of them even landing in the potion and that was brewing in the corner.

“Oops.” Merlin said in way of an apology as he went over to the cauldron to fish it out. Gaius, after raising his eyebrow at Merlin, ignored the small mistake and examined the butterfly that had flopped onto the table.

“Interesting.” Gaius hummed as he poked the creature, “It’s not alive. Though I don’t think it was ever alive to begin with. Your magic shaped this creature but never gave it life.”

“I think that’s a good thing.” Merlin sighed as he located the other butterflies that had landed around the room, “What if my magic had given them life and they were stuck like this? Poor things.”

Gaius looked back down at the butterfly and nodded to himself. Merlin did have a point. The butterflies all had their wings stretched to a point where it would have caused them pain if they were alive, and were impossible large, so much so that Gaius wouldn’t have called them butterflies. The colours of their wings were a mush of brows and greens that blurred together, and their antennae were sticking out at odd angles. When Merlin placed the other imitations on the table, Gaius could have said the same for any of them.

“Well, it could have gone worse.” Merlin said as he opened the book again, “I think I got the timing wrong. I think I’m supposed to snap my fingers after I’ve said the spell, not while I’m speaking it…”

Gaius watched with a small smile on his face as Merlin muttered to himself, snapping his fingers and murmuring the spell again and again until it made sense on his tongue. When Merlin caught Gaius staring, he shifted in his seat a little and tilted his head a little, “What?”

“Nothing, my boy.” Gaius chuckled to himself as he straightened in his chair, “I was thinking of how much you’ve grown from that day when you walked into my chambers.”

Merlin put the book down, his fingers tapping the page anxiously, “I wouldn’t think I’ve changed that much.”

“I disagree.” Gaius said softly, “You didn’t have any idea what you were capable of when you walked through my door. Now look at you.”

“Um… messing up butterfly spells?” Merlin suggested helplessly.

Gaius chuckled, “No. We both know you’re capable of so much more now.”

There was a still sort of silence as the two looked over the magic books that littered the desks that they had been pouring over for hours, discussing spells and magic and potions like two would discus a shopping list. While they had done so, a few knights had come in to see how they were doing, and Arthur had stopped by a few hours later to drop off some laundry, which Merlin had since shoved into a corner. While Arthur had asked some questions about how the set list was going, the knights hadn’t cast one look at the spell books that were littering the desks. Upon realising this, a faint blush came to Merlin’s cheeks.

“I suppose things really have changed.” He muttered, staring at the disfigured butterflies. With a wave of his hand, he made them disappear in a puff of smoke.

“You’ll be Court Sorcerer in a few months.” Gaius remarked as he watched the smoke vanish into the air, “I’m proud of you, my boy.”

Merlin gave a slight smile before he turned his gaze back to the butterfly spell, “Right then. Take two.”

Gaius stood up and took a step back as Merlin walked over to the centre of the room again. Rubbing his hands slightly, he stood with his two feet apart and bent slightly, “Gewrycan lif”

There were a few more butterflies this time, and Merlin gave a small cheer of triumph when he found that they were the size of butterflies. The triumph died on his tongue however when the ten or so butterflies fluttered slightly in the air before vanishing into a wisp of smoke.

“Ah.” Merlin sighed as the smoke vanished into the air, “I still must be doing something wrong.”

Making a sound of disappointment, Merlin grabbed the book once more and started the pacing the room, muttering the spell over and over again with different pronunciations and emphasis.

Gaius watched him fondly, remembering times when he used to do the exact same thing with Alice. His gaze then drifted the abandoned books that littered the table. A though occurring to him, Gaius made his way over to the table with the intention of looking at similar spells to see if they provided any more information.

“Here.” Gaius said after a few moments of flicking, “Merlin, come have a look at this.”

Merlin made his way over to the table and sat down beside Gaius, “What is it?”

“I may have found something that could help. It’s a spell that’s quite similar to the one that you want to perform.”

Eagerly, Merlin scanned the page a few times, reading over the information that hadn’t been mentioned in his spell book. As he did so, he frowned, “Chant the spell through clenched teeth? How’s that supposed to help?”

“I’m not entirely sure.” Gaius admitted, “But I think it has something to do with how animals perceive sound better than humans. Remember the sorcerer I told you about last week?”

Merlin’s forehead furrowed as he tried to remember, “Frank the freaky falsetto?”

“That’s the one.” Gaius nodded, “Remember how he was famous for casting all of his spells in a ridiculously high voice?”

“I think so.” Merlin pursed his lip as his lesson came back to him, “He was the one who as liked by all those dogs, right?”

“Precisely.” Gaius confirmed, “Dogs are rumoured to be able to hear sounds of higher frequency than humans. So, for performing controlling or summoning spells on dogs, one would theoretically have to cast the spells in a ridiculously high voice.”

“And Frank had that?”

“When he was a boy, yes. However, when his voice dropped I think the dogs liked him because of the meat he carried with him.”

“Oh. But what does that have to do with casting spells through clenched teeth?”

“Well, I think whereas dogs like for their spells to be cast in a high voice, other animals like their spells to sound slightly muffled, which is where the clenched teeth come in.”

“I see. So the spell might be a bit more effective for butterflies.”

“Hopefully. Couldn’t hurt to give it a try, though.”

“I guess not.” Merlin read the page once over before standing up, “Okay. Let’s give it a try.”

Merlin took to the centre of the room again and got into position. Then, with the pronunciation he had practiced a few times before, he said through clenched teeth: “Gewrycan lif.”

Gaius gave a shout of surprise as a considerable amount of butterflies appeared in thin air and clustered around Merlin, all different colours, shapes and sizes.

“I did it!” Merlin gleefully yelled in triumph as he tried to swat them all away.

“Can you try controlling them?” Gaius asked.

“Uh…” Merlin’s eyes briefly turned gold, but nothing happened.

“Can you make them disappear?”

“I don’t know how to!” Merlin responded as he made his way over to the other side of the room, only for the butterflies to follow and cluster around him once more.

“Gewrycan lif.” Gaius said through clenched teeth as he snapped his fingers. One by one, the butterflies slowly disappeared.

“Oh.” Merlin sighed as he watched the last wisps of smoke vanish, “That makes a lot more sense now that I think about it.”

“I don’t think you were thinking about it.”

Merlin coughed awkwardly as he made his way back to the table, “So. I can make them appear. But I can’t control them.”

“It would appear so.” Gaius remarked.

“Any idea on what I could do?”

Gaius hummed in thought, “Perhaps you could try the spell again? Perhaps it’s just a matter of practice makes perfect.”

“Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt.”

Just as Merlin was getting to the centre of the room, however, a curt knock came at the door.

“Come in.” Gaius said.

The door opened and Morgana strode in, Aithusa in her arms, “Merlin?”

“What is it, Morgana?” Merlin asked as he walked up to her.

“It’s Aithusa. I don’t think she’s feeling to well.” Morgana frowned as she handed the baby dragon over Merlin. Aithusa whimpered during the transfer and struggled a bit as Merlin held her in his arms. As soon as she was comfortable though, she rested her head on Merlin’s chest and sighed.

“Any idea what could be wrong?” Merlin asked as he cradled her in the hoped of making her more comfortable.

“I checked her temperature, and I think she might be warmer than she usually is. Me and Gwen thought she might have a cold, since your snow ball fight was the longest she’d ever been out in the cold.”

“Oh, you’re right!” Merlin cursed, scolding himself, “I should have known. Here, let me just get her to bed.”

Merlin turned and disappeared into his bedroom, no doubt trying to get Aithusa comfortable in his bed. Gaius turned to the potions shelves in the corner of the room and walked towards it, “I think I should have something that could help bring her temperature down.”

“Off course.” Morgana nodded. Aithusa had been sick multiple times before, so Gaius had had some practice in treating sick dragons. Since the ingredients for dragon potions differed slightly from potions for humans, Gaius didn’t make them all that often, but did keep an emergency reserve specifically for Aithusa.

“Here.” Gaius said as he fished a dragon medicine from the back of his shelf, “Excuse me while I just give this to Merlin.”

Morgana nodded as Gaius also left the room. As she looked around, she noticed the spell books that were littering the desk. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she walked over to get a better look.

A few seconds later, Gaius emerged, “Ah.” He said as he descended the steps, “I see you’ve found our spell books.”

“Why are they all out like this?” Morgana asked, “Merlin doesn’t usually leave this much of a mess.”

“Not usually, no.” Gaius admitted, “I’m afraid this mess is both of our faults.”

“I see.” Morgana said, “Is it alright if I go and check on Aithusa?”

“Off course.”

Nodding her thanks to Gaius, Morgana walked up to Merlin’s room and opened the door.

Merlin was sat on the bed with Aithusa nestled on his lap, whining.

“Hey, it’s ok…” Merlin comforted her as he patted her wings, “I know it hurts, just one more drop…”

Morgana watched as Merlin took another spoonful of medicine and held it to Aithusa’s mouth, only to make a small noise of exasperation when Aithusa turned her head away.

“Come on, Aithusa…” Merlin pleaded, “You’re not going to get better if you don’t take your medicine.”

Again, Aithusa struggled with a small whimper, one so pitiful that if made Morgana outstretch her hand.

“Here.” She offered, “Let me.”

Merlin looked at her for a moment before he nodded and carefully handed Aithusa to her, making room for her on the bed as she did so.

Morgana sat down and placed Aithusa on her lap.

“Here, Aithusa…” She muttered as she made the spoon hover outside the dragon’s mouth. Again, the dragon sniffed at it and turned her head away. Morgana bit her lip as she thought. What could be making Aithusa so stubborn?

“Merlin.” She spoke after thinking for a few minutes, “Do you have any honey?”

“Honey?” Merlin repeated as his eyebrows knitted in confusion. Then, as he understood what she meant, quickly stood up, “Yes, one second…”

Merlin rushed out of the room and Morgana cradled Aithusa softly until he got back with a jar full of the sticky stuff.

“Here…” He said as he opened the jar and offered it to Morgana. Taking her time, Morgana slowly took a separate spoon and dipped it carefully into the golden mixture. When she withdrew the small amount of honey that she had managed to collect, she carefully mixed it onto the spoon that already held the potion.

“There, that should do it.” She muttered before holding the spoon to Aithusa’s mouth, “Here, Aithusa…”

There were a few moments where Aithusa sniffed the potion but, finally, reluctantly, Aithusa opened her mouth and swallowed the potion.

“There.” Morgana sighed as she carefully settled Aithusa back onto the bed, “That should bring her fever down a little.”

“That’s great.” Merlin smiled, “I would have never thought to add honey into the mixture. You’re amazing, Morgana.”

“I know that, Merlin.” Morgana grinned, “But what I don’t know is why Gaius’ room is covered in spell books.

“Oh. I’ve just been using them to figure out my set list for when the nobles perform.” Merlin answered, suddenly embarrassed, “We’re not very far though. We’ve figured out one spell and even that has it’s imperfections.”

“Really? What is it?” Morgana asked, becoming interested.

“We were thinking about summoning a bunch of butterflies.”

Morgana lifted her hand to her face to hide a snort, “Butterflies?”

“It sounds ridiculous, I know.” Merlin rolled his eyes, “But Gaius and I were thinking that if we could get a horde of butterflies of different shapes and sizes fluttering around the throne room it could amaze the nobles without thinking they were under threat, since butterflies are practically harmless and…”

“You don’t have to explain it, Merlin.” Morgana chuckled, nudging him playfully, “I understand. What seems to be the problem with the spell?”

“We were trying it out a few times, but we haven’t figured out how to control the butterflies yet.” Merlin answered, “We figured that I could just practice until we get a better idea of how we could control the problem. Would you like to join us?”

“That’d be great.” Morgana offered up a kind smile before the two of them left the room.


	13. 13th December

“Well?” The question in Merlin’s voice was annoying enough that I made Arthur look up from his paperwork, which seemed to be getting taller by the day. Sighing, he looked over to Merlin, who was peering out of the window, neglecting his duties as usual. Seeing as Merlin wasn’t going to answer, Arthur decided to play along.

“Well what?”

“Did you send the guards out yesterday.”

“I did.” Arthur nodded, “I did it while you were busy with Gaius and Morgana in the early morning.”

Merlin nodded as he waited patiently for Arthur to finish reading the passage in his paperwork, “So the guards agreed?”

Arthur scrunched his face up in thought, “Doesn’t matter if they agreed or not, Merlin, I’m the king.”

“Okay, yeah.” Merlin rolled as his eyes as he did the bare minimum of correcting him, “But they seem happy with the plan? Like it was a good idea?”

“You mean did they look… happy?”

“Happy? Pleased? Any positive-looking emotion would be good.”

“Why? Are good ideas that much of a rarity to you?”

“Yes, and I want to know about what the general feedback is about this idea so I can brag about my good idea that I came up with to you later.”

Arthur sighed again as he straightened in his seat, “They looked… interested. No doubt some of them had children of their own. Some of them looked they were even considering what to get their own child.”

“I bet the market will be swamped in a few hours.” Merlin grinned to himself as the thought occurred to him, causing him to bounce on the balls on his feet a little, “How busy do you think it’ll be?”

“Can’t be any more busy then it usually is.” Arthur dismissed the thought with a frown, but Merlin, who had pushed and shoved his way through crowds multiple times before, decided to keep silent for once and let Arthur see for himself what hell truly looked like.

“It wouldn’t hurt to have some guards on duty though.” Merlin relented, “I mean… just in case a fight breaks out. Plus, with all the people, there’s bound to be thieves running around, and with all the pushing and shoving, someone might get hurt.”

“Alright, I’ll send some guards to their stations in the market in a minute.” Arthur laughed when he realised that Merlin had been rambling for well over a minute, “Gods, does anything shut you up?”

“Food.” Merlin said wistfully.

“Hungry, are you?”

“I haven’t had breakfast. I gave it all to Aithusa.”

“All of it?”

“She’s sick.”

“Oh. Well. Go down to the kitchens and go get something. Get me something while you’re at is as well.”

“You have to make an order out of everything.” Merlin grumbled as he made his way out of the room, “Why do I have to get you everything.”

“Because that’s your job?” Arthur called after him.

“Prat.” Merlin grumbled as he opened the door.

“I heard that!”

“I meant for you too!” Came the shout from down the hall.

Arthur shook his head a little, smiling to himself, before he got up and walked to the soldier that was standing outside the door.

“You there.” He called, gaining the knight’s attention, “See to it that six or so guards are stationed outside the market this afternoon.”

The guard nodded and went off. Arthur watched him leave for a few seconds before returning back to his paperwork.

With the preparations for the feast now well underway, Arthur had been up to his neck in paperwork and bills for all the food, decorations and music. Not only that, but the invitations still had to be sent out. Merlin had drafted a quick template of the information and formality of the invitation, so all that Arthur really needed to do was put his own spin on it. For now though, Arthur clicked his tongue as he scratched his signature on yet another piece of parchment.

A few minutes later, Merlin barrelled through the door, bumping into it as he did so as Arthur had left the door ajar.

“Merlin, you didn’t close the door behind you when you left.” Arthur scolded, “And now it’s cold.”

Merlin, who certainly did remember closing the door behind him, looked at it, baffled, “Why didn’t you get up and close it yourself?”

“And miss the opportunity of watching you realise how much of an idiot you are? Don’t be silly.”

Rolling his eyes, Merlin set down the two plates of sweet cakes and buns onto the one space of table that wasn’t covered in paperwork, and then made his to the door to close it. As he did so, Arthur picked up one of the sweet cakes on Merlin’s plate and deftly took a bite out of it.

“This is probably the quickest I’ve ever seen you return with food.” Arthur remarked as Merlin walked back over to the table.

“Yeah, I’m only quick if I get to eat as well.” Merlin said as if it were the most obvious thing in the word. He then picked up a bun and took a bite out of it, not noticing the disappearing act one of his sweet cakes had performed. Arthur allowed a small smile of triumph before signing of another sheet of paper work.

“There’s no room for this tray.” Merlin declared. Sure enough, the tray that both of their plates was on was only just balancing on the edge of the table, “Here, if I take your plate off…”

Merlin trailed off as he lowered Arthur’s plate onto the table, where it fit, and then made his way over to Arthur’s bed. Kicking his shoes of, he placed the tray and his own plate down before making himself comfortable on Arthur’s bed.

Arthur sighed, “Just don’t get crumbs on the covers.”

“I’m not going to!” Merlin said with his mouth full, thus spraying crumbs everywhere.

Arthur sighed, decided to ignore it and went back to his paperwork. Merlin had been treating himself to breakfast in bed ever since Arthur had trusted him enough to start eating in here. Arthur had, at first, protested against it, saying that it was disrespectful. Merlin, as usual, didn’t listen to Arthur and continued to do so. Coming to the conclusion that any mess made would be cleaned up by Merlin anyway, he eventually let Merlin get away with it, and it had been like that ever since.

“So have the guards send any reports up yet?” Merlin asked after he had swallowed, “About telling the parents to start buying their children gifts?”

“Not yet.” Arthur shook his head, “They all returned late last evening, so their reports about the parents’ co-operation and village morale should be on my desk later.”

“So parents have agreed to go through with it? Merlin asked with hope in his voice, “What if they don’t?”

“We can’t just force them to co-operate, Merlin.” Arthur rolled his eyes, “If they don’t want to buy gifts for their children because they don’t have enough money or don’t want to spoil their child then that’s fine. Remember, this isn’t about giving gifts, it’s about teaching children that sorcerers can be good and kind-hearted.”

“Okay.” Merlin nodded, “Still, even though it might not be popular, we’ll still be spreading the message that magic is good to some children right.”

“If all goes well.” Arthur stretched in his chair, “Why, are you worried?”

“A little.” Merlin admitted, “I mean, what if the children don’t understand the message behind it? What if all they see is the gift?”

Arthur considered Merlin’s questions for a moment before answering, “Well, if all goes well, then the parents will understand what we’re trying to do and try to explain the same thing to the child. If we do manage to make this a tradition, then the message should hammer home eventually. You don’t need to worry, Merlin.”

“I’m just scared.” Merlin said as he finished his last sweet cake, “I mean… what if the children just ignore what we’re trying to say? What if giving them gifts every year really does just turn them spoilt and ignorant.”

“Their parents will try and avoid them.”

“But what if they can’t?”

“Then the village will help them.” Arthur answered, “I’m sure you’ve heard of the saying, Merlin. It takes a village to raise a child?”

Merlin nodded. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Arthur smirked, “I can’t imagine Hunith managed you all by herself. A big part of the village must have gotten involved with all the disaster you leave in your wake.”

When the joke receive little rise out of Merlin, Arthur stood up, walked over to the bed and sat down next to Merlin.”

“You really do worry to much, Merlin.” Arthur gave a fond smile as he wrapped an arm around his servant, “Even if this just turn out to be a one off thing, it’s still going to make a lot of children happy, even if they aren’t quite old enough to understand what you’re trying to say, or if the teenagers become so spoilt they ignore the message behind it. What matters is that you’re trying and doing something to protect the thing that’s important to you. That’s what matters most, Merlin.”

“Yeah.” Merlin agreed as he wrung his hands together, “Perhaps it’s better to just see how things turn out.”

Arthur replied with a smile and rubbed his hand along Merlin’s back, knowing it had comforted the servant before.

“It’s going to be fine.” He said for extra measure. Merlin nodded, but didn’t say anymore. The two stayed like that for a while, both enjoying the other’s company more than their pride would admit.

“You should get back to your paperwork.” Merlin muttered after a few minutes. Arthur let out a chuckle before kissing Merlin’s hair.

“Speaking of work, how about you actually get some done?” Arthur suggested as he playfully nudged Merlin’s side, “You haven’t lifted a finger.”

Groaning, Merlin collapsed back onto the bed, his eyes flashing gold as he did so. Immediately, objects began springing to life everywhere and marching into their usual place, all the while Merlin lay half-asleep in the King’s bed.

Arthur scoffed, “Lazy.”

“Yeah.” Merlin answered, not bothering to defend himself.

Arthur rolled his eyes at his servant’s idiocy and made his way back to the table, making sure not to step on any stray wash clothes as he did so.

When he finally sat down and looked over to Merlin, he was slightly surprised to find that Merlin was already asleep. With Aithusa being sick, Arthur supposed that Merlin hadn’t gotten that much sleep yesterday. Arthur allowed himself to watch for a few seconds before turning to his own pile of work, the only sound in the chambers being the scratching of his quill and the clutter of the animated bucket and wash cloth.

O=II==========>

With a sharp snort that made his nose sting, Arthur snored himself awake and jumped up in alarm, only slightly aware that a piece of parchment was sticking to his cheek.

“Huh… what?” He managed as he rubbed his eyes at the stay piece of paper.

“Elegant as always.” Came a voice to his left.

After Arthur had finally caught the offending piece off paper and had wrestled it back down onto the table, he looked at the figure of Merlin, who was now standing beside the bed.

“What… is something wrong?” Arthur yawned, covering his mouth as he did so.

“It’s Aithusa.” Merlin muttered, “I woke up to knocking, you were to knocked out to do anything. When I opened the door, the guard was pointing out Aithusa, saying that she refused to let him pick her up.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Arthur got out as he rubbed his eyes, a frown appearing on his face.

“I’m not entirely sure. I think Aithusa had a nightmare. Whatever it was, it was so bad that it convinced to come all the way over here just so that I could comfort her.”

“She wouldn’t let Gaius or Morgana touch her?” Arthur blinked himself awake.

“I think they would have showed up by now if they knew Aithusa was missing. Aithusa must have slipped past them.”

“You said she had a fever, right? She must have had a nightmare. Se would have wanted to be comforted by you.”

“Maybe.” Merlin nodded to himself, though there was something in his voice that told Arthur he didn’t quite believe it, “Anyway, I placed Aithusa in your bed because she refused to go anywhere else.”

“Fine.” Arthur nodded, knowing now wasn’t the time to complain.

Sure enough, when Arthur managed to get a closer look at the bed, he could see the tiny form of a baby dragon heaving shallow, uneven breathes as she wriggled around and whimpered in her sleep.

“She sure does look like she’s having a nightmare.” Arthur remarked as he observed the twitching form of the baby dragon.

“Yeah. I just don’t know what to give her. Morgana said that she recently discovered Aithusa had a sweet tooth, so I’ve been trying to give her medicine and honey. It settles her down for a few minutes but as soon as she falls back to sleep again she starts squirming.”

“We should call Gaius.” Arthur decided, already halfway across the room to the guard.

“Right.” Merlin nodded, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he sat on the edge of the bed and slowly stroked Aithusa’s snout with a single finger.

“Could you fetch Gaius?” Arthur asked the guard. Sensing how much of an emergency this was, the guard nodded and went off without a word.

A few minutes later, Gaius entered the room.

“Aithusa!” He called as soon as he laid eyes on her, “I didn’t know she-“

“It’s okay.” Merlin interrupted him, “She must have sneaked past you. What’s important right now is that we figure out what’s wrong with her.”

“It must be that fever that broke yesterday.” Gaius theorised, “It’s getting worse.”

“Yes, but I’ve tried everything!” Merlin said, his voice getting louder, “I’ve tried dousing her with water, I’ve tried that medicine and honey recipe she likes and I’ve also tried to give her some soup, but she won’t eat or drink anything. I’m getting scared, Gaius!”

“It’s going to be okay, Merlin. You know how strong Aithusa is.”

“But she’s never been this ill before.”

“It’ll be fine, Merlin. You don’t have to assist me with this one. Could you stand back with Arthur, please?”

“But I want to help-“

“Merlin, I’m already inexperienced enough with dragons as it is. You know next to nothing about dragon illnesses, Merlin, and hovering around me could cause me to make a mistake that could endanger Aithusa’s life. Do you understand?”

“I… yes, I understand.” Merlin sighed and nodded, then allowed himself to be guided back a few steps by Arthur. Together, they both watched as Gaius took Aithusa’s temperature and made a note of it, murmuring to himself all the way. They exchanged concerned glances when Aithusa gave a sudden yelp of pain, and they both bit their lips when Gaius examined her claws. After several breath-bating minutes, Gaius stepped back to deliver his conclusion to Merlin and Arthur.

“Well, what is it, is she going to be alright?”

Merlin’s shoulders dropped slightly when he saw Gaius’ small smile, “Honestly, you really do worry to much, Merlin. You even had me convinced for a minute there.”

“You mean…” Arthur watched as Merlin’s face slowly became more hopeful, “She’s going to be okay.”

“She should be.” Gaius nodded, “You were correct in your estimate of this being Aithusa’s worst flu yet, but I think that’s just natural. She’s growing now, and the body changes are bound to have some side effects. I think the extreme symptoms of the flu are one of them.”

“Ah, dragon puberty.” Arthur nodded sagely, “Good to know.”

Arthur’s face brightened when Merlin laughed, “You might be onto something there.”

“Off course I’m on to something.” Arthur watched as Merlin’s face mirrored his own, “Dragon’s have to have a puberty, right?”

“I guess that means Aithusa is growing now.” Merlin dodged the subject before it got to awkward, “She’s not going to be baby sized for that much longer.”

“How big do you think she’s going to get?” Arthur asked, his eyebrows knitting together.

Merlin coughed, “Um… you remember the Great Dragon hat attacked Camelot? The one that’s now hanging out in the woods?”

Arthur stared at him, “No.”

“Yeah.”

“Merlin.” Arthur groaned as he hid his head in his hands, “We’re not going to be able to fit a dragon of that size in the castle!”

“Obviously not!” Merlin scoffed, punching Arthur’s arm in exasperation, “I’m going to have to let her go with Kilgharrah at some point, but the only way people ware going to learn not to be scared of dragons is if dragons don’t attack them, so a baby dragon growing up around humans might be more docile in nature.”

“But does she know how to survive in the wild?”

“Yes, Kilgharrah teachers her how to hunt on weekends.”

“So she-“ Arthur’s jaw snapped shut as he just considered what Merlin had said, “So you have Aithusa on the weekdays…”

“And on some of the weekends, but occasionally, Kilgharrah teaches Aithusa how to hunt so she doesn’t become to docile… what?”

Merlin cast a curious look at Arthur, who was now trying to stifle his giggles, “What?”

“You having her on the weekdays… and that dragon having her on the weekends.” He laughed, “Gods, it makes you sound divorced.”

Merlin sighed as Arthur burst out laughing at the thought. Exchanging a look with Gaius, Merlin peered over to the bed where Aithusa was still sleeping fitfully.

“Well, even though I don’t like to see her like this I suppose there’s nothing we can do. Arthur, you’re sleeping in your chair.”

Arthur stopped laughing, “What? Why?

“Because Aithusa and I are sleeping on the bed?”

Arthur turned incredulous, “You can’t just kick me out of my own bed!”

“Yes I can. And I will.” Merlin got a pillow and one of the blankets and threw them to Arthur, “We can’t move Aithusa in this state, and right now I’m the only one she feels safe to be around. Which means me and Aithusa get the bed, you get the chair. Goodnight!”

With that, Merlin kicked his shoes of and leapt into the bed, leaving a grumbling Arthur to fend for himself.


	14. 14th December

With only seventeen more days to go before the day of the Winter Yule feast, the kitchen was in shambles. Flour was scattered on every single surface, including the air itself, making people have to cover their hands to sneeze and waste precious seconds as they did so. Rolling pins were placed hazardly around the place and Merlin raised his eye brows in amusement when he saw a cookie cutter stuck in one of the chef’s hair.

As for the head cook, she was shouting herself horse as she ordered everyone around. With a checklist in hand which seemed, when Merlin looked over her shoulder, like it wasn’t half done, she was roaring and sweating more than usual, clapping her hands as she constantly reminded the staff how little time they had left.

With all of the commotion, none of them had noticed the tall, gangly servant enter the room, especially when he wasn’t expected. The prince had been fed around two hours ago, so no one was expecting the servant until dinner.

Grinning to himself, Merlin remained hidden and unnoticed as he scanned the desks for what he needed. As soon as he laid his eyes on them, and as soon as he checked that the coast was clear, Merlin’s eyes glowed gold as the cinnamon roll, two carrots and the raisins that he had his eyes on slowly came to life.

With the amount of activity going on in the kitchen, all hell was going to break loose if one of them spotted a horde of floating raisins, carrots and cinnamon roll.

As soon as he managed to whisk them under the desk, the rest of the mission was rather easy. Sneaking them from desk to desk, Merlin reached out from the barrels of booze that he had hid behind and stretched out his hand to receive them. As they flew over, Merlin quickly tucked the food under his jacket and walked away, trying to look as innocent as possible. When the coast was clear, he grinned to himself and took a satisfactory bite out of the cinnamon roll.

O=II==========>

“Well?” Gwaine came bounding up to him as soon as the knight had seen him coming, “Did you get it?”

“Yeah?” Merlin munched on the cinnamon roll as he handed the carrots and raisins to Gwaine.

“Brilliant.” Gwaine grinned as he looked down at them. Then, he paused, “Is that a cinnamon roll?”

Merlin stared at him, “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you get me one?”

“There wasn’t enough time.” Merlin lied as he took the last bite, “So, should we get started then?”

“I’ve managed to put everyone into teams.” Arthur brought up as he walked over to them. Me, you, Gwaine and Lancelot are going to be on one team and Elyan, Percival, Leon, Morgana and Gwen are going to be on the other.”

Merlin paused, “Morgana and Gwen?”

Arthur sighed and rolled his eyes, “Morgana stormed down after you left and demanded why she hadn’t been involved. I told her it was knight training, she said that she ‘didn’t give a rat’s arse’ and Gwen politely asked if she ‘could join to,’ to which I replied ‘to hell with it,’ and here we are.”

“Right. To be fair this really isn’t knight training.”

“Yes it is!” Arthur argued, “It’s team building!”

“You’re building a snowman.”

“As a team. Also you.”

“And Morgana and Gwen.”

“Unfortunately.”

Arthur turned to join the retreating form of Gwaine when he turned back to Merlin, “Also, why didn’t you give the cinnamon roll to me?”

Merlin smirked, “With all the rolls that you’ve been packing?”

Before Arthur could come to any conclusions, Merlin ran off to join Gwaine.

O=II==========>

“Right then!” Arthur announced as the teams came together, “This is a competition, and we’ll be competing against the opposite teams on who can build the tallest snowman. We have all the snow in the field that we can use, and magic is strictly forbidden.”

“What?” Morgana spoke up, “And why’s that?”

“Because you and Merlin would win.”

“But we’re on opposite teams, we’re against each other.”

“And you’d do all the work ourselves. This is a team matter.”

“Besides what would you be doing with your magic?” Lancelot asked, thinking out loud rather than addressing the crowd, “Piling up the snow? Isn’t that just something you can do with your hands!”

“Thank you Lancelot!” Arthur smiled, “Always knew you were my favourite.”

“I take offense to that!” Gwaine called out.

“I thought I was your favourite?” Merlin asked, “Is this because I didn’t give you that cinnamon roll?”

“Maybe we should just start the competition before Arthur starts a civil war with his idiocy?” Morgana suggested.

With murmurs of agreement, the two teams split off to start their two snowmen, the two carrots and raisins split between them.

“Alright.” Arthur started as he, Merlin, Lancelot and Gwaine made their way over to the left side of the field, “Merlin, you and Gwaine get started on the head, Lancelot and I will get started on the body.”

“You’re giving the sorcerer the smallest job?” Merlin asked, “Why?”

“Because magic is banned, which makes you useless. Also you’re the most likely out of all of us to get into a snowball fight.”

“True.”

“So you and Gwaine make the head without turning it into a disaster and we should be fine.”

“Because you and Lancelot are better at working together?”

“Because me and Lancelot are the only ones with brains.” Arthur answered.

Merlin frowned, “I don’t think that’s quite true-“

“Merlin, if you don’t shut up we’ll never get started on this thing. Now be quiet and help Gwaine.”

Merlin rolled his eyes and went off to go and find Gwaine, who was already getting started on the head.

“This’ll be a piece of cake.” Gwaine grinned up at him, “Gather up a bunch of snow and we’ll be fine.”

“Easy for you to say.” Merlin sighed as he crouched down into the snow gingerly, “You’ve got gloves.”

Gwaine paused, “Everyone’s got gloves. Arthur didn’t give you gloves?”

“I didn’t do my chores this morning.” Merlin winced as started patting snow together in his hands, which were already starting to numb.

Gwaine laughed. “Tough luck, mate. Any idea how big we should be making this?”

“Don’t know.” Merlin shrugged, “Big?”

“Works for me.”

Laughing, the two got to work.

O=II==========>

“Why do you think Morgana came down here anyway?” Arthur asked as they both started piling snow onto the ground.

“Not sure.” Lancelot said as he sculpted the base, “Perhaps she felt left out?”

“Why though? She has plenty off stuff that she could be doing. Like going for a ride, or brushing her hair or… stuff.” Arthur scrunched his eyebrows as he finished rather lamely.

“Well, maybe she wanted to spend time with her friends.”

“She barely ever talks to the knights, why would she want to spend time with them?”

“Maybe she has ulterior motives.”

“Off course she does. She’s Morgana, everything has a reason and everyone is an opportunity. It scares me sometimes how much she can read into things. You know she spotted my crush on Merlin before I’d even realised it?”

Lancelot paused, “Actually that was pretty obvious.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter! Why would she drag Gwen into this? Why would she come down now and not before? What’s so important to her about building snowmen?”

“Look.” Lancelot nodded over to the other team, “She’s talking to Elyan.”

Arthur glanced over to where the other team were building their snowman and, sure enough, Morgana was chatting and laughing with Elyan, with the occasional input from Gwen”

“Strange.” Arthur frowned, “Those two have barely spoken a word to each other. The knights all thing Morgana’s conceited, and that’s why she never talks to them.”

“Well, maybe they were wrong.” Lancelot answered. “I’ve heard about Morgana from Gwen. She’s nice to her.”

“Morgana’s only nice to Gwen because she likes Gwen.” Arthur chuckled slightly, “She can be an absolute devil whenever someone pisses her off.”

“And is that from personal experience?” Lancelot asked, smiling slightly as he reminded himself Arthur and Morgana were siblings.

Arthur nodded, when I was a kid I stole Morgana’s favourite pair of shoes because she wouldn’t shut up about them. She left frogs in my bed for weeks afterward.”

“Because you’re scared of frog?” Lancelot asked, wondering if he should pass the information on to Merlin or not.

“No, no.” Arthur shook his head, “She just thought frogs were disgusting. And if she thought they were disgusting, then the whole world must have thought they were disgusting too. They weren’t bad, actually. Kept one as a pet and called it Frogbert.”

“Frogbert?” Lancelot laughed, dumping sone more snow onto their body. Now this was definitely something he could pass onto Merlin, “What happened? Did you release him?”

“Yeah. My father thought keeping a pet would make me soft, so I had to let Frogbert go before my father killed him. Still, learning that I’d kept one of her disgusting frogs as a pet got a rise out of Morgana.”

“So then, what makes her want to become friends with Elyan?”

“I’m not sure. They don’t have anything in common.”

Lancelot and Arthur worked on their snowman for a little while longer before Lancelot put two and two together, “They’re both close friends with Gwen.”

“Gwen?” Arthur stopped shaping the arm, pausing in thought, “What does she have to do with this?”

“Gwen is Morgana’s closest friend. Perhaps she wants Elyan to be her friend to because they’re related.”

“Morgana isn’t as simple as that. She’s picky when it comes to friends.” Arthur said.

“Then maybe she’s asking Elyan for permission to do something? Maybe borrow his sword. The two are a similar height.”

Arthur shook his head, “Morgana doesn’t ask permission for anything.”

The two fell into silence once more as the returned back to making the snowman. Once more, Lancelot paused as his thoughts caught up to him.

“Maybe they are talking about the one thing they have in common.” Lancelot explained, “Gwen.”

“Gwen?” Arthur frowned. After a seconds, it clicked, “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“That makes total sense.”

“When you think about it.”

“Wow.” Arthur began laughing, “I’m going to get so much milage out of this!”

“Arthur.” Lancelot scolded him softly, “Morgana didn’t tease you when she found out about your crush on Merlin did she?”

“Yes she did. She used to make him trip into me with magic. Not to mention the amount of dirty jokes she made around him.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Now I get to pay her back.”

“Arthur.” Lancelot sighed, “Maybe it isn’t right to tease her about something as sensitive as a crush.”

“Morgana isn’t sensitive about anything, she can handle it. Plus, I’ve seen how Gwen acts around her. She’s my sister. I hate her. I’m gonna tease the hell out of her for it.”

Lancelot rolled is eyes while Arthur smirked to himself and went back to building the snowman, which was getting to be around the same height as him. Eventually, Arthur calmed himself down and the two continued with their work. After a few minutes, Gwaine and Merlin’s laughter floated over to them, making Arthur glance over.

“Morgana and Elyan don’t seem to be the only ones who are getting on well.” Arthur remarked, his voice sounding clipped.

Lancelot looked up from what he was doing and glanced over. Knowing where this was going, Lancelot patted Arthur’s shoulder as a reassurance, “They’re close friends. You know how highly Merlin thinks of you.”

“I know.” Arthur rubbed his temples, “I’m sorry. I don’t know where that thought came from.”

“It’s alright.” Lancelot smiled in sympathy, “Happens to the best of us. But you know Merlin is more loyal than all of us combined.”

“He is. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve him, but I’m grateful for it.”

“And Gwaine’s an honourable man. He may have slept around, but he’d never stoop that low.”

“You’re right, off course.” Arthur agreed as he took his eyes of the two.

The two sank into a silence again, patting the snow higher and higher until it looked like a reasonable body.

“I think that might be exceptional.” Arthur mused as he checked how the other team were doing, “How are Merlin and Gwaine doing?”

“Uh…” Lancelot looked over to Gwaine and Merlin, leaning slightly to get a better look, “ They’ve got a big head, I don’t think it’s going to look normal.”

“What do you mean?” Arthur asked as he turned to see for himself.

There, where Merlin and Gwaine were still piling snow, was a massive head that definitely was going to look strange on their body.

“We’d better stop them.” Lancelot suggested.

“Come on.” Arthur marched up to them. Merlin, who was soaked with melted snow, saw him coming and looked over, “Hey! Are we ready to put the head onto the body.”

“In a minute.” Arthur said, “You have to make it a little smaller first.”

“Smaller?” Merlin questioned as e knitted his eyebrows, “Wasn’t the competition about-“

Merlin cut himself off as he looked behind Arthur to get a good look at the body, “Oh.”

“I think ‘Oh’ explains it Merlin.” Arthur nodded, “The heads to big.”

“Not as big as yours. I though the competition was about making the snowman the tallest. So what if it looks a little wonky?”

“Look, Merlin, the competition was about making a tall snowman, but it was also about making decent snowman. You know how competitive Morgana is, she’s not going to let this.”

“Okay.” Merlin looked at the ground at he thought about a solution to the problem, “I guess me and Gwaine got a little distracted and stopped paying attention to the proportions. So, if we work together as a team to make the head smaller, then use the excess snow to make the snowman taller. Would that be ok?”

“Should be.” Arthur agreed, “Let’s get to work. Lance, could you explain all this to Gwaine?”

As Merlin and Arthur got to work, Lancelot approached Gwaine and told him what was happening. Soon the four of them were working to fix the problem.

“So how small do we need it to be?” Merlin sniffed as he swept snow off the head. He was definitely getting a cold, “How much snow do we have to take off?”

“Not sure.” Arthur hummed as he took a load off, “I’ll keep looking and say when. Gods, Merlin you’re hands are freezing.”

Merlin drew his hands back when they accidently brushed Arthur’s bare arm, “Well, you didn’t let me borrow any gloves, so-“

“You took that seriously? I thought you were going to steal some, I didn’t expect you to take the order seriously!”

“You didn’t?” Merlin asked. “Why didn’t you think I’d listen to you?”

“Because you never do? Why didn’t you use magic to warm your hands up?”

“Because you told me not to use my magic for the competition?”

“Oh, for Gods sake- Here! Take them!”

With that, Arthur took of his gloves and handed them to Merlin. Merlin blinked at them, surprised.

“You’re… giving these to me?”

“Off course I’m giving them to you, Merlin, you think I’d take them off in the biting cold weather for the fun of it? Now put them on, otherwise both of our hands are going to freeze.”

Merlin paused for a little while longer, unable to tell if it was a prank or not, before taking the gloves.

“Thanks.” He smiled as he pulled them on, “Are we almost done?”

“Should be.” Arthur glanced over to the body to check once more, “Yeah, that should do it.”

“Okay, then. Here, help me lift this up.”

Lancelot and Gwaine stepped back as Arthur and Merlin carried the snowball head and positioned it onto the body. Meanwhile, Lancelot and Gwaine took the excess snow that they had brushed of and started using it to mold the two pieces of snow together.

“There.” Gwaine gave a satisfactory sigh as he stepped back to admire their work, “Now for the fun part!”

Grinning, Merlin pulled out the carrot and the raisins and handed them to Gwaine, “Do you want to do the honours?”

“Would I?” Gwaine accepted the food and deftly put the raisins into their places as eyes, buttons and a smile. Then, as a finishing touch, placed the carrot where the nose would be.

“Ta-da!” He announced as he stepped back. Arthur and Merlin nodded, smiling.

“He looks a little like you.” Merlin commentated.

“Since when do snowmen look like people?”

“Since when the people are also cold.”

“Cold?”  
“Yup. Like giving your servants do extra chores. Dunking him with cold water to wake him up. Also in bed, you-“

“Merlin.” Arthur groaned, “I do not look like that snowman.”

“But also…” Merlin paused as he took he gloves off, “You’re shivering, so I’m going to give these gloves back to you.”

“But what about you?”

“Magic. Duh. Competition’s over.” Merlin grinned as his eyes glowed gold.

Sure enough, the other team were now walking over, chatting and smiling as they did so. Leon jogged up to meet them.

“Are you ready to compare?” Leon asked, shaking the snow that was sprinkled in his hair.

“Sure.” Arthur nodded.

As they walked over to the separate snowman, they could see that they had won, but Merlin didn’t really care. He knew that Gwaine and Lancelot were mostly in it for the fun as well, and over the years that they had spent together, Merlin had gradually seen Arthur become more and more gracious.

“I think you’re is the winner.” Arthur grinned as he looked up at the snowman, “The five of you did great, I’m proud of you all for working together. We’ll beat you tomorrow, though.

Elyan’s eyebrows raised, “Tomorrow?”

“Off course. We’re not stopping until I win.”

Merlin sighed. Well. At least it was better than throwing a tantrum.

“You’re on.” Elyan grinned as the two shook hands.

Merlin shivered, but joined in with the laughter as the group walked back into the castle, huddling at Arthur’s side for warmth as he did so.


	15. 15th December

Arthur grumbled to himself as he shivered and sank further beneath the covers, frowning as he stared at the door that still hadn’t opened. It was now midmorning, and Merlin had yet to show up. Outside, Arthur could hear the friendly chatter and clutter of servants as they continued with their daily chores, but nothing of his own servant. He was late. Well… later than usual.

Arthur remembered last night, where Merlin had insisted on taking Aithusa from Arthur’s bed, which Aithusa herself didn’t seem too happy about, so that Arthur could get some peace and quiet in the days running up to the Winter Yule feast. Arthur reluctantly agreed, sacrificing the plans he had for Merlin in the process and eventually fall asleep. Now, he was awake and wondering where the hell his servant was.

He cursed under his breath as the chill of the winter air got to him and forced his further under the covers in his quest for warmth. He could always get up and dress himself. He could always go down to the kitchen, get his own breakfast and then throw it at Merlin as punishment. But why should he? Why should he have to do that when Merlin was available?

The two had spent morning after morning behaving like this. Arthur would wake up hours before Merlin actually arrived and, instead of getting ready himself, insisted on Merlin doing it for him, no matter how long Merlin decided to take in getting himself ready for work. The two had been at it for years, a silent battle of wills on who would be the first one to cave and actually do their duties. Merlin had never avoided his work for this long though.

After three hours of staring at the ceiling, Arthur started to get worried. Merlin had never been this late before. Something must have been wrong. A patient in the sickbay, maybe? Or could it have been that Aithusa had a relapse? Arthur, with his unmistakeable talent of seeing the worst in every situation, immediately started spiralling out of control as his mind started wondering what could have possibly happened to Merlin to keep him at bay for so long.

After four hours of staring at the ceiling, Arthur’s frowns got deeper as he started to remember how frequent Merlin’s sneezes had gotten towards the end of the day. At the time, Arthur paid no attention to them since they made Merlin sound like a kitten, but now he was getting worried. Putting aside the battle of wills for the moment, Arthur called a truce and leapt out of bed, only to curse and get back inside because of how cold it was.

Eventually, Arthur eased himself out of bed and, shivering, ran over to the over side of the room to start tugging his clothes on. Unfortunately, in his urgent quest for warmth, Arthur had managed to get his head in an arm sleeve, twist the shirt around, put his leg in the wrong trouser and put his boots on the wrong feet. Refusing to tell anybody about this, Arthur finally tugged the correct boot on the correct thought and stormed out of the room, thoughts filled with Merlin.

O=II==========>

Merlin groaned, vaguely aware of the occasional warm gusts of wind that were blowing in his ear.

“Aithusa…” Merlin sniffed as he swatted the dragon’s nose away. Aithusa backed off to a minute, waited a while, before going back to sniffing his ear again. Merlin whimpered, pushed Aithusa off the bed and pulled the cover over his head before Aithusa could scratch him for it.

Aithusa who landed on the floor with a squawk, got back up after a little roll and leapt back onto the bed, purposefully landing on Merlin’s stomach and eyes narrowing in satisfaction at the groan that came from underneath the covers.

“Aithusa.” Merlin whined again as he threw the covers back, “I don’t want to get up.”

Aithusa trotted over to him and licked his chin. Merlin absentmindedly started stroking her head, before bringing his hand up to his forehead.

“Uh.” Merlin sneezed as Aithusa leapt off him and trotted over to the door. Slowly, he eased himself out of bed and lumbered out of the room to where Gaius was preparing breakfast.

“Merlin!” Gaius smiled, “Unlike you to be out of bed on time.”

“About that.” Merlin sniffed, the blocked nose making his voice sound strange to his ears. His voice must have sounded strange to Gaius’ ears as well, because he looked up as soon as he heard him and identified the symptoms in a heartbeat.

“You have a cold.” Gaius commented, “You have to take the day off.”

Merlin looked up from the desk he was sitting down at in surprise, “That easy? I thought I was going to have to convince you.”

“Well, we can’t have you risking the king. A king with a cold on the night of the Winter Yule feast would be a nightmare.”

“Oh.” Merlin nodded as he sniffed again, “Thanks for caring about me, Gaius.”

As he sneezed, Gaius gave a small cry of alarm as a potion bottle behind Merlin exploded suddenly.

“Seems like you’re magic is affected by the cold.” Gaius looked at the cracked potion bottle suspiciously. Then, as he remembered Merlin’s previous comment, slapped his boy’s arm, “And don’t be stupid, boy, you know you mean the world to me. We’d better keep you here though, that magic might cause trouble if you’re unable to control it in your current condition.”

“You mean it’ll cause more trouble than it usually does?” Merlin asked as he shook his head slightly, trying to get the blur out of his vision.

“Precisely.” Gaius said as he went to go grab a broom to sweep the mess up.

“Brilliant.” Merlin sighed, helping himself to more of Gaius’ porridge. Aithusa, who had already finished her helping, clambered onto the table, leant her neck into Merlin’s bowl and started lapping. Merlin shooed her away a few times, but as she persisted, Merlin eventually rolled his eyes and let her have her share.

“Arthur’s going to come down here looking for you eventually.” Gaius said as he finished picking up the glass and carefully wrapping it up in cloth and disposing of it in the waste barrel, “I’ll explain everything to him. You just get back into bed.”

“Arthur’s going to be mad.” Merlin hummed as Aithusa licked his spoon.

“I’ll deal with that, Merlin.” Gaius repeated. “Now go. It seems Aithusa’s finished you’re porridge for you.”

Merlin looked down at his now empty bowl, then at Aithusa, who was now sneaking towards Gaius’ bowl, rolled his eyes and picked her up.

“I’ll keep Aithusa close to make sure she doesn’t get in your way.” Merlin nodded as he made his ay back into his room.

When he had shut the door, he sighed as he leant against it, letting Aithusa drop back onto the floor when she started struggling.

“How does that sound Aithusa?” Merlin croaked, “Bed day?”

Aithusa looked up at him, tilting her head.

“Yeah. Some time to actually relax.” Merlin smiled, “Should be fun.”

A few minutes later, Merlin was bored out of his mind.

Aithusa had immediately fallen asleep, and everything inside Merlin hurt. His nose was blocked, his eyes were watering, his forehead was sweating and his muscles ached so much   
that they distracted him from getting any proper sleep. Merlin frowned as he was left alone with his thoughts. He wasn’t the only one who spent all day outside yesterday. Did any off the knights get a cold? Did Arthur get a cold? As soon as the question came to his head, Merlin wanted to go and check, but every muscle protested. Not to mention Aithusa, who had chosen to sleep on his stomach. Besides, Gaius would probably just shoo him back into his bedroom anyway. Confined to his bed and using a baby dragon as a hot water bottle, Merlin eventually managed to drift into an uneasy, shallow sleep.

O=II==========>

He was woken up with a jolt that was made worse by the fact that Aithusa was also woken up by it to, and was now stood up on his stomach. When his thoughts had come together, Merlin figured that it was the sound of the door opening, and the sound of Arthur’s voice drifting through the walls confirmed it.

“Gaius?” Arthur demanded, “Where’s my useless toad of a servant?”

At the sound of Arthur’s voice, Aithusa gave a small whine of happiness as she leapt of Merlin’s stomach, leaving Merlin in more pain than he already was.

As he recovered from Aithusa’s leap of faith, he could just about make Gaius’ reply, “Merlin is sick, sire. You’re galivanting yesterday made him catch a cold, and so he is staying in bed today on physician’s orders.” Merlin gave a small smile when he heard the underlying tone of anger in Gaius’ voice. Aithusa had started to scratch on the door now, so Merlin bent down to pick her up as Arthur spoke.

“Is he ok? Can I at least check up on him?”

Merlin’s soft smile immediately fell when he heard Gaius’ harsh voice, “Merlin, I know you’re listening at the door, so you might as well come out. But keep Aithusa close to keep you warm.”

Grinning sheepishly, Merlin opened the door and stumbled through, Aithusa clutched close to his chest.

“Hey.” Merlin blinked the tears from his eyes as he sniffed. Arthur looked him up and down.

“You sound like a toad.” He eventually said.

“Well, you look like one.” Merlin responded. Arthur rolled his eyes and dropped his façade, his concern finally shining through.

“Merlin, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Merlin sniffed, “Just a bit of a cold.”

“Actually this is the highest I’ve encountered all season, so you’re not getting out of bed for a few days.” Gaius said from behind them.

“Oh. Well.” Merlin shrugged, “As much as I love dragging your stuff around with me, seems I’m going to have to take it easy for a bit.”

Arthur turned to Gaius, “I’m going to be allowed to see him, aren’t I?”

Gaius straightened from organising the books on the lower bookshelves and straightened himself, “Well, it depends, sire. For one, we’ve discovered that Merlin’s magic acts up whenever he gets ill, so he could be potentially dangerous.”

“Dangerous? Merlin?” Arthur scoffed and looked back at his servant, “What does Gaius mean by your magic acting up?”

“Whenever I sneeze my magic goes… haywire for a little bit.” Merlin sniffed, “Don’t know if it’s dangerous or not, but better to be safe than sorry.”

“And besides, even if Merlin’s magic wasn’t dangerous, we can’t risk you spending more time with Merlin than necessary whilst he’s sick because of your bond.”

Arthur shook his head slightly, “What about it?”

“Well, your bond means that Merlin’s magic latches onto you constantly whenever you’re near. If Merlin’s magic is sick, then there’s you have a higher chance of catching the sickness more than anyone else who spends time near him.”

“And you don’t want me to get sick because of the upcoming Winter Yule.”

“Well… it would be ideal, Sire, yes.”

Arthur nodded, biting his lip slightly before sighing and turning to Merlin, “What do you think I should do, Merlin?”

Merlin blinked in surprise. Then, as eloquent as ever, “Uh… what?”

“What should I do?” Arthur repeated, “You’re the one that’s sick. Do you want my company or do you want me to leave.”

Merlin huffed an uncertain laugh, “Arthur, your health is at risk if you stay with me.”

Arthur shrugged, “So?”

Merlin clicked his tongue, “Arthur, you-“

The rest of his sentence was cut of by a violent sneeze that made his whole body shudder. As he did so, the faint sound of a bottle smashing told him that yet another bottle had exploded.

Arthur gave a cry of alarm and jumped away from the glass.

“Sorry!” Merlin apologised, sniffing, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s fine.” Arthur said, still a little shocked, “I just wasn’t expecting… that. That’s all.”

“Still.” Gaius interrupted the two, “I think it would be better for us all if Merlin were to stay in bed for a few days.”

“You’re right.” Merlin nodded, “I’ll be fine Arthur. You know Gaius will tell you if it gets any worse.”

Arthur sighed, wanted for all the world to take Merlin into his arms and kiss him for all he was worth, but he knew that both Gaius and Merlin weren’t going to approve of that. Instead, he straightened and nodded.

“Fine.” Arthur said as he made to leave the room, “Merlin, I expect to see you back on duty the minute you feel better.”

“Looking forward to it, Sire.” Merlin forced himself to sound as happy as he could before the door shut behind the king. As soon as he was out of view, Merlin groaned, “Everything hurts.”

“And that’s why you should have stayed in bed.” Gaius scolded softly, “Now go make yourself comfortable, I’ll bring you some porridge.”

Merlin shot him a smile before trudging his way upstairs. Aithusa wriggled out of his arms and glided over to the bed, chasing her tails a few times before finally making herself comfortable. Her comfort was soon interrupted by Merlin as he kicked her off in an attempt to make room for himself. Once his head had collapsed onto the pillows, Aithusa once again treaded on his chest for impact before flopping herself down and falling asleep.

Merlin absentmindedly started patting Aithusa’s head as he stared at the ceiling. He wasn’t in any sort of mood to fall asleep right now. Just how long was he going to be stuck in that room for? If his magic was there to protect Arthur, then why would it infect him with the same cold that Merlin had. Merlin sighed, trying to shut out his own thoughts and try to focus on the steady sounds off Aithusa’s breathing.

After a few minutes, Gaius knocked and came in with a steaming bowl of soup. Feeling a smile spreading on his face, Merlin sat up, once again disturbing Aithusa from her sleep.  
“Wow, thanks, Gaius.” Merlin croaked as Gaius set the soup down on his lap, “Look’s great.”

“Make sure you eat it all.” Gaius fixed him with a stern look, “Don’t be giving it all to Aithusa.”

“I won’t.” Merlin promised as he waved Aithusa away, “I’ll eat it all Gaius, promise.”

“And try not to sneeze if you can help it!” Gaius called as he left the room, “It’s already messy enough as it is.”

Merlin laughed as Gaius shut the door behind him, and then sighed as he took the first spoonful of soup to his mouth. Smiling, he then tilted the bowl slightly to let Aithusa lean her neck in and lap it up a few times.

“How is it, Aithusa?” Merlin asked, his throat burning as he did so.

Aithusa smacked her lips a few times before giving a small noise of satisfaction.

“Good, huh?” Merlin took a few more spoonfuls, and then tilted the bowl to give Aithusa her share. Together, they fell into a rhythm, working on the soup so quickly that it was gone in a matter of minutes.

O=II==========>

“Magic-based illness?” Morgana repeated, “I haven’t heard anything of the sort.”

“No, me neither.” Arthur shook his head, “Father didn’t mention anything about that.”

“Well, that’s because Uther didn’t know anything about sorcerers.” Morgana said, not bothering to hide the hatred in her voice.

Arthur rose his head to protest, but then paused and stopped to think, “You’re probably right. I don’t think he knew that much about magic at all, did he?”

Morgana shook her head, “But even so, Gaius has never mentioned it either.”

“Perhaps it’s something dangerous and he’s just trying to protect us by keeping us in the dark?” Gwen offered, “Like he did with Morgana and her nightmares?”

“Yes, because we all know how well that turned out. Morgana scoffed, “Protecting me didn’t make me feel safe. It just made me feel more scared.”

“I know.” Gwen said, her voice sick with sympathy, “But Merlin’s different. He’s had his magic since the day he was born, so he had no reason to be afraid of it.”

“Exactly.” Arthur nodded, “So did Merlin’s magic make Merlin sick? Or did Merlin getting sick affect his magic?”

“Well, has Merlin ever been sick before?” Gwen asked as she thought to herself, “Surely we would have noticed his magic a lot sooner if it acted up whenever he got a cold.”

“True.” Morgana nodded, “But I don’t think I can recall a single time that Merlin’s gotten sick.”

“Neither can I.” Arthur shook his head, “As lazy as he is, this is his first day off in all the years that he’s been my servant.”

“Then Gaius must be truly worried.” Morgana decided, “You know Merlin. If he had known that it would be just a regular cold, then he would go to work anyway. But this is dangerous.”

“So Merlin’s magic is acting up because of a cold, and Gaius is getting scared because he isn’t able to identify the symptoms?”

“It has the symptoms of a cold.” Arthur corrected, “I saw them for myself, but I think the reason that Gaius is so on edge is that it’s making Merlin’s magic act up, so something must be off with it.”

“That makes sense.” Morgana sighed as she leant back further in her chair, “I just hope it doesn’t affect Merlin to badly.”

“He’ll be fine.” Gwen spoke up as he saw the doubt shining in both Morgana and Arthur’s eyes, “This is Merlin we’re talking about. He’s faced more challenges then every single one of us combined.”

“You’re right, as usual, Gwen.” Arthur sighed, “This is Merlin. He’ll be able to get through this. By some miracle, he always does.”


	16. 16th December

“Milady?” Morgana’s eyes twitched slightly as she heard a voice drift over from the other side of the room, “Milady, it’s time to get up.”

Morgana held up a hand as sunlight streamed into the room, sitting up as she did so. Basking in the sun, Gwen turned to her and smiled.

“Good morning, Milady.”

“Morning, Gwen.” Morgana yawned, “Did you sleep well?”

“I did, thank you Morgana.” Gwen answered, dropping the title as their routine of the day fell into place, “And you?”

“Better than I have in months.” Morgana sighed, letting her defences drop just for a second to let a relaxed, content smile on her face. The sight made Gwen reply with her own smile before she turned to walk over to the changing screen.

“What would you like to wear today, Morgana?” Morgana heard Gwen’s voice even as she became lost behind the screen. Morgana cast her eyes up in thought before she decided a second later.

“The green dress. And that white rose you gave me a few weeks ago.”

At that, Gwen paused, “The flower? It’s probably wilted by now, and-“

She paused as Morgana raised an eyebrow at her. Then, as it clicked, she made a small scoff of exasperation, kicking herself, before she said, “Right. Magic.”

“It should be in my drawer.” Morgana answered as she climbed out of bed and walked over to the screen to get changed out of her nightdress, “Have you found it?”  
“Got it.” Gwen replied as she found the white rose on top of Morgana’s favourite spell book. Afraid that she might damage it somehow, she placed it on top of the desk and went in search of Morgana’s green dress.

After she had opened the wardrobe, she took it out and draped it over the side of the screen. It wasn’t long after that she saw the fabric disappearing as Morgana took it to change into. Quickly, Gwen fetched the rose from the desk, Gwen returned to the screen just in time to hand it to Morgana.

“For you.” She grinned, twirling the stem of the preserved rose between her two fingers. Morgana gave the fond smile that Gwen loved so much and took the flower from Gwen, pinning it to the front of her chest.

“Just as pristine as they day you gave it to me.”

Gwen nodded, too flustered to find words and quickly turned away before Morgana could notice her blush. Behind her, she heard the shuffle of Morgana’s dress as she approached the window. What made Gwen turn around was the small gasp that Morgana made as she peered out.

“What’s wrong?” Gwen asked as she approached the window. As soon as she saw, her eyes widened in surprise.

She’d never seen the market so busy.

There were hundreds of people all clustered on the long and twisty path towards the castle, all of them waving coin pouches at the people in charge of the stalls. Everyone was shouting at everyone and everyone seemed to want everything. Wares were flying of the shelves and the people in charge of the stalls looked more stressed than they had ever done in their lives.

“What’s happening?” Morgana asked, her eyebrows knitted in confusion. Gwen didn’t answer, she couldn’t stop staring at the pandemonium below. Eventually, however, she managed to put two and two together.

“Remember that tradition thing that Arthur mention yesterday when he was in your chambers?” Gwen asked as Morgana turned to her, “He said that Merlin had come up with an idea to start helping children become more welcoming towards magic.”

“That’s right!” Morgana remembered, “Something about parents saying that once a year a sorcerer gave their parents gifts.”

“That must be what all the fuss is about.” Gwen stated as she and Morgana returned their gaze to the chaos, “It looks like a nightmare.”

“It looks amazing.” Morgana said at almost the same time. When she spotted Gwen’s bewildered look, she laughed and turned to her maid, “Think about it Gwen! The smells, the noise, the sights… it must be amazing!”

Gwen was about to object, but then put herself in Morgana’s shoes. For one who spent most of her life wondering around the castle or in the castle gardens, something new and different must have been exciting for her. While Gwen wasn’t expecting much from it, it couldn’t hurt to let Morgana indulge herself.

“Well, you’ll get lost on your own.” Gwen said, “I could accompany you, make sure you don’t get lost.”

“Gwen, that would be wonderful!” Morgana said as she threw her arms around her servant, “Thank you.”

Gwen smiled and let herself be enveloped in Morgana’s warmth, quietly wondering to herself what kind of trouble they’d be getting themselves into. As a thought occurred to her, Gwen pulled out of the hug and placed a small, calloused hand on Morgana’s head.

Morgana blinked a little in confusion, “Gwen?”

At the question, Gwen flinched a little and drew her hand back, “Sorry! I was just checking your temperature because I was getting worried and I didn’t want you to get ill because there’s Merlin and Aithusa was pretty sick as well at some point and you spend quite a lot of time with the both of them, so-“

“Gwen.” Morgana interrupted her as she clasped Gwen’s hands in hers, “What’s wrong?”

“I was just worried.” Gwen explained herself, “What with Merlin catching that magic sickness we don’t know that much about and Aithusa having that small fever a few days ago I was just worried that you were in danger of getting sick, and exposing yourself to the cold might not be such a good idea.”

Seeing the concern shining in her friend’s eyes, Morgana let a smile spread on her face, “Gwen, I’ll be fine. You know from Gaius’ report that Merlin hasn’t gotten any worse.”

“He hasn’t gotten any better either.” Gwen muttered.

“The point is that even if I did catch it, I’d be fine. When have ever let something as small as an illness stop me?” With a cocky smirk, Morgana fetched her fur coat and wrapped it around herself. Then, as an afterthought, quickly grabbed a shawl and handed it to Gwen.

“Here. You’ll need this.”

Gwen looked at the finery in her hands and her eyes bulged, “What? I couldn’t possibly wear-“

“Oh, hush, Gwen, we both know I’m the more stubborn one out of both of us, so let’s skip that song and dance and go see the sights.”

Gwen stared speechless as Morgana strode out of the room, her cheeks becoming rose-tinted as she went. Gulping and forcing down her blush as well as she could, she draped the shawl over her shoulder and headed outside.

O=II==========>

Gwen huddled close to Morgana, scared of the thought that she or herself could get lost in a crowd as big as this. There were people hollering everywhere, yelling over the noise of other people shouting, orders and requests competing in volume one after the other.

“Did Merlin really think this was a good idea?” Gwen said as she watched two people fight over the last honey-scented candle.

“I think he liked the idea of getting gifts for children.” Morgana answered as she watched the same fight in amusement, “But you know Merlin, he doesn’t really think much past square one. I don’t think it ever occurred to him that this might happen.”

“He always has the best of people on his mind doesn’t he?” Gwen gave an almost lamentful sigh as the fight turned violent. As the uproar somehow grew louder at the sight of a fistfight, it was left to the person in charge of the scented-candle store. As she and Morgana backed off, Gwen could only think off how thankful she was for her past decision to give the blacksmith to close family friends of hers that Tom had trained himself, “I doubt Merlin ever thought this could happen.”

“Still, it’s with good intentions in mind.” Morgana said as she barrelled through the crowd, tugging Gwen along, “Just think of how many happy children there are going to be on the 25th.”

“Yeah.” Gwen said, smiling, “I suppose this makes it worth it.”

Morgana shot her a smile before reaching up on her tiptoes, “I think the silk shop is over there! Come on, let’s go have a look?”

“You think we might be able to look at an actual shop without getting squashed?” Gwen had to shout just to be heard by her friend who was right next to her.

“Squash me? I’d like to see them try!” Morgana smirked at her once more before she grabbed Gwen’s hand and dragged her through the sea of bodies that were thriving and writhing, competing with each other to finally get their purchases in order.

When they finally reached the silk store, Gwen was out of breath. A lot of maids were there as well, picking up and inspecting silks in a wild manner, arguing over who had chosen what first. Morgana seemed to be the only noble there, but that wasn’t a surprise to Gwen. She couldn’t think of a single high-ranking person besides Morgana who would want to go through this when they could just as easily send someone to do it for them.

Morgana looked at the selection in the stall for a grand total of five seconds before pointing one out, “Here!”

“That was quick.” Gwen remarked as the stall owner received the coin, “You didn’t even need to try it on!”

“I didn’t need to.” Morgana answered as she accepted her new silk.

“You’ve had your eye on it for some time then?”

A secretive smile was Morgana’s only reply as she took Gwen’s hand to lead her through the crowd again.

“Anything else you want to do?” Gwen shouted over the crowd. She hated to admit it, but she desperately wanted to return back to the peace and quiet of the castle.

“Just a few more things, Gwen.” Came Morgana’s answer. Morgana was only a few feet away from her and Gwen could still only just hear her. Gwen kept her sighs to herself and let herself get dragged along.

“There! The flower shop!” Morgana cried as she pulled Gwen onwards. Gwen had to admit though, watching Morgana push and shove into people was amusing. The shock on people’s face afterwards when they realised they couldn’t do anything to the lady Morgana was something that Gwen felt rather guilty at laughing about. Morgana, however, hadn’t paid any attention to the faces of the people in the crowd, but instead weaved through them like a woman on a mission.

“Good morning.” She beamed at the store owner of the bouquet shop as If she hadn’t just pushed past 5 men that were twice the size of her, “I believe I commissioned something yesterday? Under the name Morgana.”

After a few seconds of the lady checking her list, she looked up at Morgana with a smile and nodded at her, “Right away, Milady.”

“You’ve been busy.” Gwen remarked as she recalled yesterday, and how Morgana had sent Gwen on a few more chores away from Morgana’s rooms than usual.

“I have.” Morgana admitted.

Gwen smiled at the mischievous glint that she caught in Morgana’s eye, “Are you going to tell me why?”

Morgana only winked at her, and refused to say anymore. Knowing Morgana, Gwen knew it would be pointless to badger her any further, so she just joined Morgana in smiling her thanks to the bouquet woman as she handed Morgana her flowers.

“Thank you.” Morgana smiled sweetly before retreating and letting the swarm of customers take her place.

“Any more stops?” Gwen asked as she held onto Morgana’s hand for dear life.

“Just the one.” Morgana said, sniffing the air, “Aren’t you enjoying this?”

“I am for the most part, Morgana.” Gwen answered as honestly as she could, “I just don’t like this crowd, that’s all.”

“I understand.” Morgan cast a sympathising look back at her, “Just one more stop. Then I’ll get the cook to make us some sweet buns that we can share over some tea, is that alright?”

Gwen nodded and Morgana smiled back at her, before marching forward a little faster this time.

“There!” Morgana called as she peered over the people’s heads, “I think the embroidery stall is over there.”

“It is.” Gwen answered, since she knew the way to the embroidery stall off by heart. What did Morgana want with embroidery? That was her job. If Morgana wanted something embroidered, then why hadn’t she gone to her? Gwen could feel her features scrunching in confusion, but smiled again as Morgana looked back to check on her. Eventually, the two made it back to the third and final store.

“Good morning.” Morgana panted, trying to compose herself, “I’d like to purchase some thread please?”

The lady in charge of the stall, clearly not used to being addressed by a noble, looked at her suspiciously and asked, “Silver or gold?”

“Gold, please.” Morgana answered. Tilting her head, Gwen eyed the piece of purple silk that had been the first thing she had bought. Purple and gold would make a lot of sense together. But if she had wanted a new dress, then why couldn’t she ask Gwen? Couldn’t she trust her? Gwen frowned at herself as she tried to get rid of the self-doubt. She was being ridiculous. Other people could make dresses. And Gwen was pretty busy with all the preparations for the Yule ball. Morgana had every right to pick another seamstress to make her dress, in fact, Gwen had so much work on her plate that she probably should have been grateful for it. But she wasn’t.  
Shaking the stupid thoughts from her head, Gwen nodded her thanks to the embroidery stall owner as Morgana pocketed the golden silk that she had just purchased.  
“Now.” Morgana smiled at Gwen as she grabbed her hand again, “Home.”

With that, Morgana and Gwen walked as best as they could through the crowd, narrowly dodging people who stumbled into their way and ducking past people who were causing a bit to much of a fuss over gifts and prices. When they finally burst free, Gwen gasped, finally able to feel air on her skin instead of the spices and ale that came from the stalls.

“I thought we’d never get out.” Gwen said as she and Morgana climbed the steps of the castle courtyard.

“You have to admit, it was quite the experience.” Morgana told her as they reached the top, “I don’t think I’ve ever felt that squashed in my life.”

“Neither have I.” Gwen laughed to herself as she remembered her discomfort, “I don’t think I want to go back in there anytime soon though.”

“No.” Morgana agreed, smiling to herself. “Well, now that we’ve gotten what we came for, Gwen, could you take all this up to my chambers? I’ll go down to the kitchen and get some sweet buns and tea for us.”

“Off course, Morgana.” Gwen answered as she took the silk, bouquet and thread from her.

Struggling a bit, Gwen clambered up the stairs and managed to open the door with her shoulder as she dumped everything onto the bed. Allowing herself to pause for a short second, she then got to work in putting the silk away in the wardrobe, the thread away in the drawer and the bouquet in a vase that had yet to be shattered by Morgana’s magic. When Morgana returned, the whole place was filled with the scent of fresh sweet buns.

“Perfect.” Morgana said to herself. As she walked up to the table and placed the sweet buns down, a small smile spread on her face as her eyes glowed gold and she waved her hand. Gwen couldn’t help but smile either as the scented candles they had scattered throughout the room a few days ago were lit, an abundance of pleasant senses rushing up Gwen’s nose.

“Better?” Morgana asked, noticing Gwen’s relief.

“Much better.” Gwen agreed as she sat down.

After Morgana had taken one of her own, Gwen repeated the same notion and took a small bite before gathering up the courage to ask the question, “So, you’re making a dress?”  
Morgana looked up at her, as if trying to decide how much to tell her maid, before swallowing and answering, “Yes. I am.”

Gwen nodded, taking another bite as she asked, “Who for?”

The same mischievous glint that Morgana had in her eye before appeared again as Morgana gave her a sly look and took another bite, “Not telling, Gwen.”

Gwen frowned, self-doubt once more invading as she took another thoughtful bite. How many other female friends did Morgana have other than her? Gwen knew for a fact that Morgana wasn’t a fan o the other noble ladies that were living in the castle, and that she complained constantly about them in the safety of her chambers after another court meeting had ended. Morgana would always rant about how the noble ladies thought about boys way to much and not about how to solve the kingdom’s problems. There was one time where a noble lady had made a spectacle of herself by shouting at her maid, who had tripped and spilt some wine over her dress. Morgana had ranted for hours at how she shouldn’t be treating her maid like that, and even now the memory brought a smile to Gwen’s face. Even after all the time they had spent together, Gwen thought that memory was one of her favourites.

As she took a sip of her tea, Gwen decided that it wasn’t important. It was Morgana’s business, not hers, and doubting Morgana’s trust over her over one silly piece of cloth was ridiculous. As she started to get more confident in her thoughts, Gwen nodded to herself as Morgana continued talking about the improving health of her horse.

Morgana was her best friend. And she would give Morgana the entire world if it meant seeing her smile again.


	17. 17th December

Swords rang through the air as the knights treaded through the thin layer of snow, their footprints marking the pace of the battle as they are their opponent went back and forth, the occasional grunt of momentum sounding out with the clash of metal. Near the weapons rack, Arthur watched them all, noting mistakes and weak points while the battles played out before him. Every so often, however, the knights would notice that his eyes were not on them, but had instead drifted off to where the window of Merlin’s room would be. Occasionally, they would see a small smile on the King’s face as well, and when they looked over to the window, they could see a face smiling back at him. For the most part though, Arthur’s eyes remained fixed on the training, his frown set in stone whenever he had to tear his eyes away from the window.

“Not to sure about this, Queenie.” Gwaine grunted as he clashed against Percival’s sword, “But I think you might be crushing on Merlin a bit too much.”

“I am not.” Arthur huffed as his eyes once more flickered over to the window, “I’m just worried about him, that’s all.”

“We all are.” Percival said through gritted teeth at he tried to overpower Gwaine’s parry, “Merlin will get better, you know how he is. I’m sure Gaius is just making it out to be worse than it is because he’s never heard of it before.”

Arthur hummed, but didn’t contribute anymore than that. Instead, his eyes grew distant as he nodded slightly, as if trying to convince himself that what Percival was saying was true. After a few short moments of uncomfortable silence, however, he spoke up again: “Don’t let me distract you from your training. Go again, and double the effort this time.”

“Arthur.” Gwaine panted as he lowered his arms, “If you’re worried about Merlin, then go check on him!”

“I can’t. Gaius said so.”

“When have you ever done what you were told?”

“When my servant’s health is on the line.”

Gwaine paused, so Percival spoke up in his place, “You really think it’s that bad.”

Arthur sighed, rubbing his temples, “Yes. No? Gaius seemed pretty worried.”

“Like I said, maybe it’s just something that he doesn’t treat all that often, so he’s just taking safety measures.”

“Besides, you know Merlin.” Gwaine grinned, “Impossible to get rid of.”

Arthur chuckled at that, remembering how many times he had believed Merlin to be dead, only to be proven wrong moments later, “I know you’re right. But it’s never going to keep me from worrying.”

“Well, the same goes for all off us.” Percival reassured him with a pat on the back, “We’re all worried about him. It’s what friends do.”

Arthur smiled at that, glad off the reminder that he wasn’t alone. After years of growing alone with knights instead of friends, Arthur still occasionally forgot that he could confide in people now. That he was allowed to open himself up to others and not be seen as weak because of it.

“Come on.” Arthur said as he shook his head slightly to chase away the thoughts, “Back to training, both of you. Percival, try to make use of your right side a bit more. Gwaine, stop with all… this.”

“You just gestured to all of me.”

“Yes. Try being more… steady.”

Gwaine stared at him vacantly, as if trying to figure out what Arthur meant by that. Arthur decided that letting him figure it out for himself might be best and quickly went off to find Lancelot.

“Arthur.” Lancelot greeted as he saw him approaching. When he saw the slight frown on Arthur’s face, his eyebrows knitted in worry, “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah.” Arthur tried, “Just trying to keep myself from thinking about Merlin.”

“I see.” Lancelot said. Then, as he held up his sword, “Duel?”

Arthur grinned and drew his own sword. Within seconds, the two were charging at each other with their swords held high.

Arthur’s sword met Lancelot’s with a clang that rang through the entire field. Suddenly, as if a switch had been flicked, everything that had been making Arthur angry, Merlin’s illness, the Winter Yule, the expectations of the visiting nobles, the expectations from the knights, the expectations of everyone around him, it all came bursting out in an anger that Arthur only knew whenever he had a sword in his hands.

He met Lancelot’s sword parry after parry, each strike being met with so much force that Lancelot initially had to take a few steps back in surprise.

“You really are worried.” He grunted out as his own sword met Arthur’s in a struggle for power.

Arthur swung his sword around to get it out of the lock and brought it back round full force, only for them to pick up the rhythm once more. It wasn’t long before the anger had Arthur sweating and crying out every time his sword met Lancelot’s. On the other hand, Lancelot met every one of Arthur’s strikes with a calm focus, patiently waiting for him to get it all out.

Unfortunately, Arthur was taking longer than usual, but Lancelot didn’t blame him. With everything that had happened this month, he couldn’t blame him.

After temporarily retreating from yet another struggle for power, the two settled for circling each other while Arthur got his breath back. Lancelot, since he wasn’t the one leading the attack, was doing pretty well, since he was showing no signs of exhaustion. The other knights had seen Arthur take his anger out on swordfights before, so this was nothing new to them. Because of this, the constant clash of swords filled the tense silence that enveloped them as they circled around each other.

Lancelot’s calmness to the whole thing, however, seemed to anger Arthur even further, and it wasn’t long before he was yelling and charging back in again, meeting Lancelot’s sword in yet another clash. Not only was it significantly weaker than his first strike, but Lancelot could now hear Arthur breathing. 

“You’re wearing yourself out.” Lancelot managed, a little out of breath himself now, “Now would be a good time to stop.”

Arthur, his eyes wild with anger, looked into the calm stillness that was reflected in Lancelot’s. Then, when Arthur’s eyes darted back to Merlin’s window, he sighed and relented, pulling his sword away from Lancelot’s and sheathing it. When Lancelot saw that his work was done, he sheathed his sword as well. Exhausted, Arthur flopped down onto the grass.

“Thanks, Lancelot.” Arthur panted, “I needed that.”

“Whatever’s necessary, Sire.” Lancelot answered as he sat down beside him, “I’m here for you. We all are.”

Arthur nodded, his eyes closed as he tried to focus on his breathing. A calm silence filled the two as they looked up at the sky, smiling at the clouds that were slowly drifting their way across the endless blue. Immediately, Lancelot felt at peace and felt the adrenaline in his veins slowly come to a stop at the calmness the sight evoked. Lancelot only wished that he could admire and appreciate the sky and other beauties of the world more often.

“Lancelot?” Arthur’s came drifting towards his ears after a few minutes of watching the clouds.

Lancelot opened his eyes, “Yes?”

Arthur turned his gaze up at the sky and swallowed, practically forcing the words from his mouth, “I envy you. Sometimes.”

Lancelot sat up, not bothering to hide the surprise written on his face. “You do? Why’s that, Sire?”

Arthur looked down again and Lancelot waited patiently, knowing how hard it could for Arthur to select the right words. Eventually, Arthur started up again, “I get angry too easily. I get angry and people suffer because off it. But whenever I look at you, you always look so calm. So calculated. There are times when…” Arthur swallowed, “There are times where you look like a king.”

Lancelot stared at him, unsure of how to react, “People don’t suffer when you get angry, Arthur.”

“But they do!” Arthur was raising his voice now in frustration, “Every time I get angry it clouds my judgement and I make a mistake and, of course, my mistakes are the ones that have the biggest consequences and then I hurt my own knights by fighting them-“

“I’m fine.” Lancelot assured.

“Maybe now, but you’re going to be feeling that in the morning.”

Lancelot winced. Arthur had a point. Still, Lancelot took Arthur’s words into consideration, formed his own response and then voiced it, “Everyone has different ways of letting their emotions out, Arthur. No one’s going to think differently of you if your outlet happens to be a little violent. And as for your judgement, everyone makes mistakes now and then. True, there’s a lot more pressure on you, but that’s what we’re here for. Me, the knights, Merlin, Morgana and Gwen are all here to make sure that your anger doesn’t get in the way of the right choice.”

“I know that.” Arthur snapped, immediately regretting it as it came out, “But how do I contain my anger? How do I control it? I don’t want to hurt anyone by saying the wrong thing before I can think things through.”

Lancelot studied him for a moment, stared into the desperation that was so obvious behind Arthur’s eyes. No matter how much Uther had tried to teach and raise to be just as stoic, it had been of no use. Arthur could be read like an open book if you knew the right tells.

Eventually, Lancelot answered, “I think the best way to control anger is by keeping your friends around you. When you’re by yourself, it’s so much easier to get carried away since you don’t have supervision, but we’re here to help and support you, Arthur, and if that means helping you keep your anger in check, then so be.”

Arthur sighed, looking down at the ground as he bit his lip. Then, so quiet that Lancelot barely heard it, Arthur whispered, “Thank you.”

“You have to remember that everyone has their own different ways to express their emotions, Arthur, but one thing that we can all agree on is that bottling them up and not telling anyone about them isn’t healthy and isn’t good for anyone.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” Arthur turned his head to stare at Lancelot. This time, the desperation had melted into something more solemn, a conflict of some sort going on in the blues of Arthur’s eyes.

“You have something else to say?” Lancelot guessed.

Arthur huffed a laugh, “Am I really that easy?”

“You are to friends who’ve known you a long time.” Lancelot smiled with a friendly nudge.

Arthur nodded and, after a brief moment of hesitation, came to the question that he wanted to ask the most, “So how do you do it? Keep calm?”

Lancelot frowned slightly, “Calm?”

“How are you able to keep calm and focused in the heat of battle? When a friend dies? When something… bad happens.” Arthur trailed off a little, shrugging slightly, “Whenever I see you on the battlefield, you always look so focused. Merlin says that I look like a concussed pigeon who’d just gone for a spin in a hurricane.”

The two laughed again at one of Merlin’s abnormal insults before recovering and getting serious again, “So, how do you do it?”

Lancelot took his eyes of Arthur and frowned slightly, “I guess I’m not sure. I’ve never really thought about it before. I’ve seen you on the battlefield, and it’s painfully obvious how angry you can get during a war. But I admire that you use your emotions to your advantage and let them become a better fighter.”

“You think?”

“Yes. All the anger, the adrenaline, the passion… you truly are amazing to watch when in battle, Arthur. I suppose you could say that sometimes I envy you.”

“Seriously? Lancelot, there’s nothing for you to envy.”

“You’re wrong, Sire. Ever since my village burnt down, I’ve spent my entire life trying to learn every sword technique there is. But it takes a certain amount of talent to be able to use your emotions in such a way that gives you an advantage on the battlefield. Acknowledging and accepting emotions isn’t a weakness, Arthur. It’s a strength.”

Arthur sighed at that, his frown turning into a sad smile, “Another thing that my father got wrong.”

Lancelot winced, but didn’t say anything else in the matter, afraid that he might upset Arthur in some way if he were to let his tongue slip. Instead, he waited patiently as he watched Arthur’s face pass through a range of emotions, from anger to confusion to sadness, and then all the way back over to anger. Lancelot waited to Arthur to gather his thoughts together by watching Gwaine and Percival fight. In his peripherals, he could see Arthur was studying them as well to try and distract himself from his thoughts.  
Gwaine and Percival had been at it for a while now, both of them circling the other until one of them had the courage to leap in and attack. This was often Gwaine, but it was often executed with some sort of error that Percival was calmly able to identify and combat.

“See, look at Gwaine.” Lancelot interrupted Arthur’s thought process as a point occurred to him.

Arthur turned to glance at Lancelot, “What about him?”

“He’s getting frustrated. Percival keeps besting him, see?”

“I do. His footwork’s clumsy and Percival’s taking advantage.”

“Right. So, Gwaine is depending on his anger to give him strength in battle, but it’s also clouding his judgement. You, on the other hand, fight perfectly when you’re angry. Do you see what the difference is?”

“I do.” Arthur gave a slight nod as he watched Percival and Gwaine’s fight with a new found interest, “And there’s no way for Gwaine to take control of his emotions?”

“Off course there is. But everyone handles there emotions differently. It’s up to Gwaine to figure out how he can control his.”

“I understand.” Arthur rubbed his temples, “It’s… sort of a lot, but I think it’ll sink in.”

Lancelot watched with a small smile as Arthur returned to watching Gwaine and Percival fight. Seeing a blur of white in his peripherals, Lancelot looked up to the window and saw the distant figure of Merlin looking down at them. The words to bring Arthur’s attention to Merlin were on Lancelot’s lips, but he stopped them just in time. The whole point of this conversation was to keep Arthur’s attentions and thoughts away from Merlin. Instead, Lancelot returned his gaze to the fight and waited for Arthur to speak again. At least, he would have done, if a question hadn’t occurred to him first.

“So… what you said about me being calm enough to be king…”

Arthur looked up in alarm, and Lancelot could practically see the colour draining from his face, “Um…”

“Was that another thing your father taught you? That you needed to be calm in order to be king?”

“It was.” Arthur admitted, the colour returning back to his cheeks in shame, “I realise now that he was wrong.”

“Yes.” Lancelot agreed, “True, Kings need to be calm when making important decisions, but that goes for everyone. A king also needs to use his emotions and his heart to tell him what’s best for Camelot. A king with a heart is a lot more useful to the people than a king with nothing more than a crown.”

“I’ll remember that.” Arthur gave a grateful smile to his friend as the wind picked up slightly. Lancelot looked at him, a strange sense of pride flooding through him at the sight of the smile on Arthur’s face.

“Glad I could help, Arthur.” Lancelot beamed as Arthur returned the smile. Together, they sat in silence and watched as Gwaine stumbled yet again and very nearly impaled himself on Percival’s sword.

Arthur frowned as concern flashed through his eyes, “You think we should tell him?”

“Tell him what?”

“That he should focus on trying to get a hold of his emotions.”

Arthur tilted his head as he pondered the suggestion, “This is Gwaine, though. He probably thinks getting control of his emotions means to smother them in alcohol.”

“That just might be as unhealthy as bottling them up.” Lancelot remarked as Arthur chuckled.

“And Percival?” Arthur asked, knowing of Lancelot and Percival’s friendship that went back years before Camelot, “How is he with his emotions?”

“Percival and I had many of the same tutors.” Lancelot smiled as nostalgia washed over him, “So he knows many of the same techniques as I do, so he’s probably got the same capability in keeping his emotions in check.”

“That’s good to here.” Arthur nodded in approval, watching as Percival once again sidestepped Gwaine’s attack. As the two got locked in more serious combat, Arthur and Lancelot watched in bated breath as the two knights struggled for power. With a yell of anger, Gwaine forced Percival’s sword out of the lock and the two resumed fighting, with Gwaine taking the offense.

“See? There are times when Gwaine uses his anger correctly.” Lancelot commented, “Gwaine can use his anger and adrenaline all he likes, but if he’s not careful it could cloud his instincts and cause him to make a mistake. The same goes for you, Arthur.”

Arthur blinked in surprise, “Me?”

“You and Gwaine have similar fighting styles.” Lancelot explained, laughing at Arthur’s baffled expression, “Both you and Gwaine rely on anger and adrenaline to get you through a fight, whereas myself and Percival use the sword techniques that we’ve been learning our entire lives.”

“You’re right about the instincts.” Arthur chuckled a little, “I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve charged into battle without thinking he minute I heard someone was in danger.”

“Indeed. You sure gave Merlin more then his fair share of heart attacks.”

“Right.” The smile on Arthur’s face was wider than it had been all morning, “But thank you, Lancelot, really. I wouldn’t know how to deal with emotions if it weren’t for you.  
Once again, Lancelot beamed with pride, “It was an honour, Sire.”

The two nodded in respect of one another and returned their gazes back to the fight just in time to see Gwaine fall flat on his face.


	18. 18th December

Merlin sighed as he continued to watch the spider make it’s way along the far. On his stomach, Aithusa was also watching the spider, though Merlin guessed it was for entirely different reasons.

Merlin watched in amusement as Aithusa hunched her kind legs, growling slightly. As her wings stretched, Merlin could feel her talons digging into his skin, though thankfully not enough to draw blood. As soon as her wings were outstretched, Aithusa leapt at the wall and caught the spider in her mouth. Unfortunately, what the baby dragon hadn’t calculated was that the momentum was also send her crashing into said wall, and she landed onto the floor with a small thump.

As Merlin was about to get out of bed to check on her though, Aithusa perked pack up again, chewing the spider in triumph. Merlin watched in surprise and then gave a small laugh of relief.

“You’re skull must be as thick as Arthur’s! Don’t try that again, alright?”

Aithusa leapt back onto the bed and made herself comfortable as she did so. When she swallowed the spider, Merlin laughed even louder at the sight of the face she pulled.  
“Not a fan of the flavour, huh? Serves you right for thinking you can leap like that and not crash into the wall.”

Aithusa huffed at him and stuck her tail up. Merlin scoffed.

“Don’t give me that attitude, young lady! You just had breakfast!”

Aithusa, to Merlin’s bewilderment, actually rolled her eyes and glided over to Merlin’s bookshelf, where she made herself as comfortable as she could before glaring at Merlin and going to sleep. Merlin could hardly believe what he had seen. Was that what having a teenage daughter was like? It had only seemed like yesterday when Aithusa was eating up his neckerchiefs. They really did grow up fast.

Ignoring the dragon and her puberty problems, Merlin continued to lie there and stare up at the ceiling, sighing as he did so. Since he no longer had anything to distract himself with, his mind had gone back to constantly being on the fever. Over the past two days, while it hadn’t gotten worse, it hadn’t gotten any better either. Not only was his bed sheet covered in sweat, but his eyes constantly had tears in them and his nose had been blocked for two days straight. Not only that, but it had been a while before he had used his magic, and now it was starting to affect him. Since his magic was being released externally, the magic had decided to leave internally, which had caused Merlin’s senses to heighten and for him to become aware of everything. Footsteps clambered around his head, voices sounded like they were right next to his ears rather than several rooms away. More often than not, Merlin had given a pitiable groan and had dived under the covers, hoping to block it all out with nothing more than a flimsy sheet.

What was worse was that the Winter Yule was now only thirteen days away, and people were getting stressed. One by one, the nobles that were being invited had all sent messengers to say that they approved of the invitation and would be attending to the feast.

Furthermore, while Merlin had now decided on a set list that would last him roughly half an hour if he dragged it on a bit, it was still a bit shaky. He hadn’t practised his performance nearly enough, and if his magic didn’t get itself together than he wasn’t going to get any practice in any time soon. Not to mention every time he sneezed something exploded. The nobles weren’t going to be happy if something like that happened to them. However, Merlin found that he was rather tempted to do it, just to see the look on their faces and laugh about them with Arthur afterwards once the whole nightmare was over.

Despite Gaius telling Arthur that he wasn’t allowed to visit, Merlin was surprised and, he’ll admit, a little hurt to see that Arthur had obeyed his order. While Merlin agreed it was for the best, he couldn’t help but feel a little sad every time he watched the knights train from his window that overlooked the training grounds.

Over the course of the two days, boredom had bed growing inside Merlin like a ticking time bomb. He’d been stuck for 48 hours with no one but a moody dragon to talk to. Gaius had come in occasionally, but that was only to test medicines to see if they had any effect on them. So far, they hadn’t had much luck. Gaius had tried everything from rosemary to saffron to oregano, but nothing had seemed to do the trick. Although Gaius didn’t spend that much time with Merlin, the servant could tell that Gaius was becoming more and more worried. If none of the common herbs on his list could be found, then the cure was going to have to be some kind of magical ingredient that required some kind of quest. A kind of ingredient that was going to have to include Arthur. As much as Merlin wanted to get better, he didn’t want to put his friends in that position a few weeks before the feast.  
Merlin leant back on his pillows, rummaging around and trying to get comfortable as he tried to think about what might make him feel better. Perhaps a moonlit crystal could help him store all the magic that had been building up inside of him, but it wouldn’t do anything to bring down his fever. A Moondrop flower could calm down his magic to the point where it stopped making things blow-up every time he sneezed, but he knew from experience that those kind of flowers were extremely hard to find.

Merlin was just about to wonder if Aithusa’s shedded dragon scales had any healing properties when the door opened and Gaius stepped through, holding a mortar and pester that had some weird kind of pink powder in it.

“Morning.” Merlin sat up, only just managing to greet Gaius in a throaty voice.

“Morning, Merlin.” Gaius said as he closed the door behind him, “I’ve got something for you.”

“What is it?” Merlin frowned as he eyed the pink powder with distaste. From atop the bookshelf, Aithusa looked at the concoction with interest.

“They’re crushed carnation flowers.” Gaius answered, “I’ve been trying herbs all this time, it completely skipped my mind that there are flowers with healing properties as well.”  
As Merlin was left to wonder where if Gaius had exerted himself to get the flowers or had left it to someone else, Gaius picked up a spoon, took some of the flower petals and held it to Merlin’s nose.

“Here.” Gaius offered.

As soon as Merlin opened his mouth though, Gaius stopped him.

“No, no, Merlin, flowers must be taken through the nose.”

Merlin raised his eyebrows in an unpleasant mix of surprise and disgust, “The nose?”

“Yes. You’re not supposed to ingest them, though.” Gaius explained, “You’re supposed to inhale a few off them, hold your head back and then blow your nose to let them out.”

“And that works?” Merlin asked dubiously.

It did for Pricilla the petal prodigy. Her work on flowers is the best I’ve ever read.”

“I doubt it.” Merlin muttered as he looked at the crushed flower petals with a scowl.

“Don’t be such a baby, I’ve fed you far worse things than this.”

“What?”

“Down the hatch!”

Before Merlin could open his mouth to argue, Gaius practically shoved the spoon so close to his nose that Merlin was forced to inhale them. Because he had been prepared to argue, however, he was not expecting the overpowering scent of the carnations and gagged in surprise as crushed petals flew up his nose.

“Okay, now hold your head back.” Gaius said as he helped tilt Merlin’s head, “Otherwise all the petals are going to fall out before they’ve done their job.

Merlin, who was still trying desperately not to gag, was shuddering instead, his head a blur off the persistent scent of wildflowers and honey that was making it’s way through his brain.

“It’s powerful, I know.” Gaius said with a touch of sympathy in his voice, “But just a few more minutes. That’s it.”

As he shuddered and coughed at the feeling of the petals in his nose, Merlin wondered If he was going to have to do this every day with different kind of flowers. He hoped not. However much he hated what was currently happening, he was desperate for it to work.

“That should do it.” Gaius decided a few minutes later, “Come on, let’s get them all out now.”

As he said so, Gaius pulled a tissue out of his robe and handed it to Merlin. Gratefully, Merlin blew his nose and, when he pulled it back, could see the sodden petals that he had accidentally inhaled.

“There.” Gaius said as Merlin threw the spoilt tissue into the waste barrel beside his bed, “Hopefully that should work.”

“Right.” Merlin sniffed, bothered by the feeling that there were still some petals lingering around in there, “So why do flowers need to be ingested that way? Why couldn’t I just… swallow them? I feel like that would have been easier.”

“Because they’re flowers.” Gaius explained, “There’s a reason people like to smell them so much. When people have inhaled a certain amount, some flowers have healing tendencies.”

“Wish I’d known that before you tried to shove some up my nose.” Merlin muttered. “I’m grateful that you’re helping me out, Gaius, I really am, but why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? This isn’t any healing method that I’ve ever heard off.”

Gaius paused for a second, a hesitation that didn’t go amiss by Merlin, before he stood up, “Because this method can be slightly dangerous.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me before you asked me to take it?” Merlin asked.

“Flower medicine was the only thing I can think off, I’ve ran through every herb I know.” Gaius answered, “I had to use flowers. It was either this, or…”

Gaius trailed off, but the slight shake in his voice made Merlin understand immediately, “You’re worried that the only thing that can heal me is some magical item that’s locked in a tomb somewhere.”

There was a solemn pause as Gaius nodded slowly, “I’ve been looking in every single one of my books for any symptoms that you might share, and there is one. Reports of sorcerers unintentionally heightening their senses due to their sudden loss of ability to release their magic through spells.”

“So it’s a disease that’s been around before?” Merlin asked, his anger ebbing away slightly, “It not anything new?”

“No.” Gaius shook his head, “It’s only when you said that the voices in your head were getting louder was when it clicked. It’s not a disease I’ve studied particularly well, but I managed to find a passage on it this morning. The disease itself was around decades ago due to how much magic was used back then. It was a sickness that copied the symptoms of a cold, but would also damage the victim’s ability to do magic.”

“And the cure?” Merlin sniffed, trying to stop the itching inside his nose.

“Made by the creator of the disease.” Gaius said, “As a failsafe. Probably just in case the disease spread to far.”

Merlin leant forward slightly, dreading the answer, “And the only cure is…”

“Inside the creator’s tomb.” Gaius answered sombrely.

Merlin sighed, closed his eyes and started rubbing his temples. “Called it.”

Gaius bit his lip, “I know you don’t like it.”

“No. I don’t. And Arthur isn’t going to like it either.”

Gaius turned to him, “Arthur?”

“Yeah. We’re going to have to go together, I’m not going to be able to do much without magic.”

Gaius’ eyes narrowed, “We?”

“Well, yeah. I’m going with him.”

“Merlin, we agreed on this. You’re not leaving this bed.”

“We agreed on it before we learnt that the only cure is in some dingy tomb somewhere!”

Gaius sighed as he sat back down on the bed, “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?”

“You’re never able to, you know that.”

The physician shook his head, “You can’t go outside like that. It’ll only make things worse.”

“Well, are there any other cures? You said that this disease was caught by a lot of people right? Surely they couldn’t have all gone on this quest to some grave?”

“No.” Gaius shook his head in a grim voice that immediately set alarms of in Merlin’s head, “With all their senses heightened, all the voices, all the sights and the smells and the sounds… it drove them insane.”

Merlin let go of his breath. There was the catch, “Oh.”

Gaius nodded slowly, “Arthur and his knights are going to have to go. But you don’t have to. You’ll be much safer if you stay here.”

“But Arthur. He’ll be in danger. If this guy was a sorcerer then he would have laid traps, magical traps that only I can evade.”

“But you can’t right now, not like this!” Gaius argued.

“Then whose going to protect Arthur?”

“Arthur can take care of himself!”

Merlin scoffed, “I don’t believe that for a second.”

Gaius gave him a disapproving look before the argument died on his tongue. The two sat in a tense silence. Gaius stared at the floor, adamant on Merlin staying safe, and Merlin was looking out of the window, where it looked like Arthur was helping Gwaine with his footwork.

“Bring him in here.” Merlin said finally, an idea occurring to him.

Gaius looked at him for clarification, “What?”

“Bring Arthur in here. We can’t make decisions around him when he isn’t even here to have a say in anything. Besides, Arthur is a good man, and he’ll make the right choice. Could you send someone to fetch him? Gwaine isn’t going to forget all his fancy footwork in one day, not if he takes it easy on the alcohol.”

Gaius looked at him for a long time, and Merlin could practically see the thoughts on what to do turning in his head. For a second, Merlin thought that Gaius was going to refuse, but as Gaius stood up with the mutter of “stupid boy” Merlin knew he had gotten his way.

“You’re very stubborn when you need to be.” Gaius muttered as he gathered the mortar and pestle and headed over to the door.

“Oh, I know.” Merlin grinned, “Just ask Arthur. Apparently I’m very annoying.”

Gaius raised his eyebrow at Merlin’s triumphant grin before he gave a dramatic sigh and headed out of the door, most likely to tell the guard that was waiting outside of the physician’s chambers to fetch the King.

As soon as Gaius had left the room, Merlin let the grin that was plastered onto his face die. Tapping his finger on his knee, he waited for Arthur to arrive.

O=II==========>

Arthur’s presence made itself known to Merlin by the boots that were storming down the hallway at what Merlin thought had to be around three hallways away. Pounding in his eardrums, Merlin groaned and rubbed his temples, closing his eyes in a futile way to stop his world from shaking.

After a few agonising minutes later the door burst open (at least it did to Merlin. In reality it was only a slight creak) and Arthur walked in. Gaius, who had reread the passage on the disease over three times now looked up and said in a booming (again, to Merlin’s ears) voice: “Arthur. I’m glad you could come.”

“What’s the problem, Gaius?” Arthur asked, in a loud voice that he defiantly didn’t have before, “Is it Merlin?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Gaius answered, “We think the disease may be of magical origins. It’s preventing Merlin from using spells and, as a result of Merlin being unable to release his magic, it’s affecting his senses and are heightening them.”

“And you’ve tried to find a cure?” Merlin could hear the worry and tension in his voice all the more clearer now that everything seemed louder.  
“We have.” Gaius said, pausing before the big reveal, “Only problem is-“

“It’s trapped in a dead guy’s tomb somewhere?” Arthur guessed in such a deadpan voice that Merlin couldn’t help but snigger. Fortunately, neither heard since he was still stuck in bed and they were in the other room.

“Yes.” Gaius answered.

Merlin could perfectly imagine Arthur rolling his eyes, “Called it.”

“His name was Gideon, and he was a sorcerer who believed that magic should not be used by people, since it was an element of the Earth and far to powerful for anyone human to understand, control and manipulate. So, he used his own magic to create a disease that would cause other people’s magic to cause them to go insane as punishment for thinking they could control it.”

“But he was a sorcerer himself, right?” Arthur clarified, “Isn’t that a bit hypocritical?”

“It was.” Gaius confirmed, “And that’s why he killed himself after his job was done.”

“I see.”

“Believing his job was done, Gideon killed himself by purposefully inflicting the disease upon himself as punishment for controlling magic in such a way. Since magic has only just been legalised again and people are still quite scared of it, the disease hasn’t been seen in quite some time. In fact, Merlin is the only person I’ve ever seen have it.”

“And the cure?” Arthur pressed, “Where’s the tomb?”

“On the foot of the shortest mountain in the White Mountain range.” Gaius answered, “He believed that vanity was a sin, and so purposefully chose the shortest to represent how little he thought of himself.”

“And that’s where the cure is?”

“Most likely. The cure was created as a failsafe in case Gideon accidentally made himself sick before his work was done. But since he succeeded, he never needed the cure, so it’s been stuck in his tomb ever since.”

“Well, it sounds like we have our work cut out for us.”

Merlin’s hopes lifted when he heard the pronoun. Gaius on the other hand, had an edge in his voice, “Our?”

“Me and the knights off course.”

Merlin’s heart dropped.

“Arthur!” Merlin coughed slightly as he stumbled out of the room, “I’m coming with you.”

Arthur took in the shivering form, the damp eyes and the red nose, “Like hell you are. You’re staying here.”

“No, there’s going to be a bunch of traps in there, it’s going to be dangerous!”

“Merlin, the guy thought that magic should be left alone, the traps aren’t going to be magic. It’s not going to be anything I can’t handle. You need some rest.”

“But-“

“Rest, Merlin. And that’s an order.”

Merlin opened his mouth in protest but was ignored as Arthur turned to Gaius, “I’ll set off tomorrow with a few off my trusted knights. Make sure Merlin doesn’t leave his room. And Merlin?” Merlin’s shoulders tensed as Arthur turned to him, “For once in your life, listen to me. Stay in your room.”

“It’ll be dangerous.”

“It won’t be anything new. I’ll get the cure to you soon, Merlin, my pile of laundry’s getting higher than I care to admit.”

With that, Arthur left the room, leaving Merlin to figure out how he was going to escape his room and follow them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know the plot-that-wasn't-supposed-to-be-a-plot is getting really out of hand but hopefully I'll be able to tie up all the weird subplots that I've improvised before the end of the story.


	19. 19th December

“Alright. You’ve all received your orders.” Arthur exclaimed to the small group of knights that were holding onto his every word, “We’ll be setting of to the White Mountains to retrieve a cure for Merlin’s illness. If we set off now, we should be there by nightfall. Does everyone understand?”

“Yes, Sire!” The knights chorused. They had all risen early in the morning on Arthur’s orders, obeying with enthusiasm once they had heard that a cure for Merlin had finally been found. Now, Arthur’s most trusted knights were making there way to the stables, talking about their expectations for the battles to come.

Arthur bit his lip as he watched them go, painfully aware of the empty space by his side that should have been occupied by his clumsy servant. After the knights had walked out of sight, an uncomfortable silence filled the air, one that Arthur knew should have been filled with some useless, irritating comment of Merlin’s making. But there wasn’t. All that there was were the criminally cheerful tweeting of the birds.

Sighing, Arthur took one last look at the window to Merlin’s bedroom, and wasn’t at all surprised when he saw an equally forlorn face looking back at him. The two stared at each other for a while before Merlin broke the contact, disappearing from view way too soon.

After looking at the empty window for a few more wishful seconds, Arthur finally convinced himself to turn and head towards the stables.

O=II==========>

“Merlin, your porridge!”

Merlin looked up at the call from the other room, but didn’t make a move. Aithusa, on the other hand, immediately dashed through the open door and glided down the steps and landed perfectly on the seat, tilting her head patiently as she waited for the porridge to be served. After a few seconds of trying to convince himself, Merlin sniffed and gave in, climbing out of bed and following in her footsteps.

He paused when he saw that Gaius had his back to him, still serving out the porridge. In one quick flash of instinct and impulse, Merlin snatched the compound of hog’s wart that Merlin knew Gaius kept on the shelf and stuffed it into his pocket. Not a moment too soon, Gaius turned around.

As soon as Gaius saw Merlin’s frown, he sighed, “I know you wanted to go with them, Merlin, but it’s just not possible. With how unpredictable your magic is, you could be putting Arthur in danger.”

“You know how Arthur’s like. He’s going to get himself in danger anyway.” Merlin came back, “And I’m not going to be there with them.”

“He has extensive training in sword-fighting and his most trusted knights.”

“They’ve never helped him before.” Merlin said, immediately regretting the comment the minute came out. He opened his mouth to correct his comment and the bitter tone it was spoken in, but Gaius got there first.

“I know you don’t mean that.” Gaius held up a hand to stop Merlin from correcting himself, “I know you’re just worried. But Arthur will be fine.”

“I’m sorry all the same. That comment was arrogant of me.” Merlin apologised, “It’s just… this is the first time I’ve ever been away from Arthur.”

“I know, but it’s what’s for the best.” Gaius said.

Merlin sighed, “Maybe you’re right.” He said, thumbing the hog’s wart bottle in his pocket, “Maybe a trick or two had weaved it’s way into his thick skull during the years.”

Gaius chuckled, and Merlin immediately felt a stab of guilt as an idea came to him. Gaius was going to be so mad at him for going through with it. Bit Arthur needed him, there was definitely going to be some sort of trap that would put him in danger, and bandits, and smoke, and cliff edges and…”

“Merlin.” Gaius scolded, his harsh tone brining Merlin back down to Earth, “Stop thinking about Arthur. It’s not going to help if you constantly think about what kind of trouble he’s going to get himself into.”

“Sorry.” Merlin felt a flush go to his cheek as he realised just how easy to read he had been, “I guess I just need a distraction or something…”

“True.” Gaius agreed as he picked up three bowls of porridge, “How about some breakfast?”

“That sounds great.” Merlin forced a grin onto his face as he watched Gaius set the ladle down.

Merlin could hear his heart beating in his chest as he watched Gaius walk over and set the porridge down in front of him, and a smaller bowl in front of Aithusa. As Gaius went to go sit down on the opposite side, Merlin felt a tickle in his nose.

After a few minutes of inhaling and provoking the small tickle, Merlin finally covered his nose as he sneezed and heard something behind Gaius smash suddenly.

“Sorry.” Merlin apologised as he peered over Gaius’ shoulder to get a good look at the potion he had just spilt all over the floor. Gaius turned around from his porridge to get a good look at the spilt potion, sighed and got up.”

“Honestly, you’re going to put me out of a job, Merlin…” Gaius joked as he went to fetch a washing rag.

“Sorry.” Merlin apologised again, but now for completely different reasons. Once checking that Gaius had his back turned, Merlin yanked the hog’s wart out of his pocket and sprinkled a small amount onto Gaius’ porridge. A few seconds later, the bottle was safely back in Merlin’s pocket and Gaius was still cleaning up the mess he had made.

“I could do it myself if you want me to.” Merlin offered as he shoved Aithusa away from his bowl.

“No, that’s quite alright, Merlin. We don’t need anymore messes.” Gaius muttered as he straightened with the broken glass tucked inside the wash rag. Merlin breathed a sigh of relief as Gaius dumped both the glass and the wash rag that it was tucked in into the waste barrel. The first part of his plan had been a success. Now, hopefully, so would the rest of it.

Merlin forced yet another smile onto his face as Gaius sat down, returning the smile. As Gaius started eating his porridge, Merlin forced the guilt down and started on his own, complimenting it more than usual. He knew that Gaius would be asleep in a few hours. He knew what he was doing was wrong. But he also knew that Arthur was going to be in danger, and that he had to be there to protect, no matter if it endangered his own health or not. Continuing to smile, Merlin forced himself to eat his porridge, despite the queasy, clenching feel of guilt that was swirling around in his stomach and making him want to throw up.

As soon as he had finished his porridge and thanked Gaius for the meal, Merlin went back upstairs and sat back on his bed, contemplating what he had just done. In a few minutes, Gaius would be asleep and he would be free to leave, but it still felt so wrong. Promising his guardian and then going behind his back, though Merlin, had done it many times, had never left this amount of guilt in Merlin’s stomach. But this time, since he had actively drugged Gaius’ food himself? He didn’t like it one bit, but if it meant being there for Arthur… Merlin sighed and tightened his hands against the mattress as he heard the soft thud in the other room.

Constantly trying to convince himself that this was the right thing to do, Merlin let Aithusa hop onto his shoulder as he left the room.

Thankfully, Gaius had been aware that he had been drugged seconds before he had gone to sleep, and had managed to make his way over to the bed before the hog’s wart had taken it’s full effect. Thankfully, Merlin had made sure that the amount of hog’s wart he had sprinkled on was small, so Gaius would be awake in a matter of minutes, but it would be just enough time for Merlin to figure out which way Arthur went and set off in pursuit.

Even so, Merlin paused as he took in the sleeping form of Gaius, who had only just managed to collapse onto the bed. In his ear, Aithusa whimpered, as if this was sitting well with her either.

“It’s okay, girl.” Merlin whispered softly as he patted her head, “I’m going to make everything okay.”

As Aithusa nuzzled his cheek, Merlin turned around to face Gaius again.

“I’m sorry.” He apologised one last time before striding out of the physician’s chambers for good.

Since Merlin didn’t know wether the guards had been informed not to let him leave his room or not, Merlin resolved to try and leave the castle without being caught by the guards, just to be safe rather than sorry. Unfortunately, without his magic to see the path ahead, this was harder than it looked. Using Aithusa to signal with her tail wether the coast was clear or not, Merlin was finally able to get out of the castle. It had been a slow and painful process, one which had Merlin itching with impatience the entire way, but they eventually made their way to the stables.

When the stable boy saw him preparing a saddle, he looked up in confusion, “Are you-?”

“I slept in.” Merlin flashed the awkward smile that he knew got him what he wanted, “Arthur left me to my own devices. I’ll catch up, don’t worry.”

With that, he tapped his heels against the horse’s sides and he took off so suddenly that Merlin very nearly fell off. Cursing the dizzy spell that had just at that moment decided to overtake him, Merlin clutched on tight and squeezed his eyes shut, cursing his heightened senses for making the horse’s hooves sound like war drums. Beside him, Aithusa was also clutching on for dear life, piercing his shoulders so tightly that Merlin could feel the blood trickling out.

Hugging the horse and silently praying that Arthur was alright, Merlin rode forth towards the White Mountains.

O=II==========>

“And just like that, Merlin agreed to stay behind?” Gwaine asked as Arthur recounted his story to them.

“Well, he protested a lot. An annoying amount, as usual.”

“Yeah, I’m not surprised.”

“Are you sure he’s convinced?” Leon joined in the conversation, “You know how stubborn Merlin is. He’s not just going to sit back.”

“I know that.” Arthur replied, “Which is why I’ve asked Gaius to watch him.”

“And you think Gaius is going to be able to stop him if Merlin were to just… walk out?” Percival asked, exchanging dubious glances with Gwaine.

“No. But I thought about that.” Arthur said, a hint of pride in his voice.

Gwaine raised his eyebrows in surprise, “You had a thought? Like an entire, actual thought?”

“Shut up. Anyway, I knew Gaius alone wouldn’t keep Merlin inside his room, so I asked guards to keep an eye out on him as well.”

“You stationed guards outside of the physician’s chambers.”

“No.” Arthur clarified, “Having guards constantly outside your door wouldn’t be fair on Gaius. I’ve just… modified their route a little bit so that they’ll be spending a bit more time than usual in the tower that holds the physician’s chambers.

“And you think that’s going to stop Merlin.” Elyan said, trying to hide the smile in his voice.

“Yes.” Arthur nodded, straightening his back a little, “It’s an order from his King. The days have passed where he can just wonder about whenever he pleases. Merlin knows that now.”

On Arthur’s left side, Gwaine leant towards Percival and whispered to him, “Bet you Merlin comes stumbling out of those bushed in the next few hours.”

“You’re on.”

The group carried on in silence, watching the expanse of trees, aware that any bush could be hiding a bandit. However, as the ride became longer and the silence became heavier, the knights became more and more aware that it was missing the prattle of a certain servant.

A few more hours later and the scenery changed. The knights watched as the greenery and foliage of forests turned into the idle chatter and warm atmosphere of welcoming villages, to finally the grassy fields that became more and more rocky the more orange the sky became. Eventually, and the sky became streaked with yellows and pinks, Arthur pointed out the silhouette of the White Mountains that were looking in the distance in the form of a foreboding shadow.

“There.” Arthur said as he pointed towards the several peaks that met the sky, “We’ll need to start heading towards the shortest one soon, but for now we can keep going as normal. We should be able to see the White forest soon enough.”

Sure enough, an expanse of trees quickly appeared before them, and it wasn’t long before they were surrounded and the peaks of the mountain were lost from view. Even so, Arthur had memorised the map to the shortest peak last night, and practically knew the route by heart, despite never having walked along it before. Soon, a fork in the path came and Arthur was quick to decide which one to take in order to take them to where they were going.

The day dragged on and on until finally Leon looked at the sky and hummed as he made a decision.

“It’s getting late.” Leon spoke to Arthur, “We’re not going to be able to safely climb the mountain in the dark. I think it’ll be for the best if we set up camp for tonight.”  
Arthur, after a quick survey of his surroundings, nodded, “I think you’re right. Come on, let’s get everything set up.”

With that, the knights dismounted their horses and, without Merlin to help them, detached the bed rolls from their horses themselves. Unfortunately, since there was no servant to accompany them, a few errors were made.

Gwaine, who had put himself charge of gathering firewood and lighting a fire, accidentally did it to close to Elyan’s bedroll, which resulted in a few panicked seconds of the two frantically putting Elyan’s bed roll out. Percival and Lancelot got their bedrolls mixed up in the dark and, while Lancelot found Percival’s bed roll to be quite comfortable, Percival found his to be rather short and thin, so much so that he raised a protest and Lancelot realised his mistake. Leon and Arthur, who witnessed all off this chaos first hand, sighed and chose that it was probably best that they turned in for the night. It would have been a disaster climbing the mountain when they were all like this.

With Leon now in charge of cooking and Arthur on lookout, it took about an hour or so for the knights to settle down and start behaving normally. Without Merlin keeping them all together, the place was chaos when the knights didn’t know what they were doing. Arthur realised that know, and found himself wishing that Merlin was here. Reminding himself of the reason he had chosen to keep Merlin behind, Arthur slapped himself and forced himself to keep on the lookout.

A few minutes after the reminder, Arthur senses became aware of the silence that was coming from the trees. The birds had stopped singing, and the trees were lying ominously still. The only noise was the cackling of the fire and the laughter of the knights as they polished of Gwaine’s meal.

“Stop.” Arthur told them as he stood up and drew his sword.

Immediately, he heard the scraping of metal as five loyal men did the same behind him.

“Bandits.” He told them. As if they didn’t already know the answer.

However, what Arthur wasn’t expecting was the horse neigh that crept out of the silence, and the horse hooves that could be heard shortly after. In confusion, Arthur lowered his sword. Bandits didn’t ride horses. They snuck around forests and stole from unexpecting travellers. Horses would be to obvious. So then who…?

The answer had already came to Arthur’s mind before the person rode into view, and the expression on his face quickly changed from confusion to anger.

“Merlin.” Arthur spoke to the person who had just dismounted from his horse, “I see you’ve brought your dragon out on a field trip.”

“Arthur.” Merlin answered, hunching himself over, something that Arthur had noticed him do when he wanted nobles to see him as nothing but a servant.

There was a tense silence between the two of them, the cackling of the fire the only thing that could be heard in the background.

Arthur spoke first, “I told you not to follow us.”

“I didn’t listen.”

“No.” Merlin flinched at the anger in Arthur’s voice but kept his ground. Reading the room, the horse was twitching nervously, it’s eyes darting between the two.

Eventually, when it became more and more clear that the silence between the two of them wasn’t going to go anywhere, Arthur sighed, “It’s not safe for you here. You know that Merlin.”

“It’s not safe for you here either.” Merlin sniffed, wiping his nose a little. The worst thing that could happen right now was sneezing, “I came here because I knew that.”

“I know that as well!” Arthur hissed, “I ride out to danger almost every day, I know what the stakes are!”

“No you don’t!” Merlin whispered back, “You go riding into danger without knowing all the facts! Without knowing that your opponent is actually some… some magical creature that wants to kill you!”

“And what about this time?” Arthur asked, becoming more and more exasperated, “What’s this sorcerer like then? Huh? Was he a vampire? A bastet? A goblin? Spit it out then, Merlin, if you’re so clever! What don’t I know about this one?”

Merlin faltered, his breathing getting heavier, “I… I don’t know.”

“You don’t know.”

“No.”

“For Gods sake, Merlin, you’re sick. You’re telling me that you rode all the way out here because you wanted to keep me safe? When I can look out for myself perfectly well?”  
“You don’t know what’s in there!”

“Neither do you!”

“Then I’ll protect you, like I always do!”

“Dammit, Merlin, I don’t you getting yourself hurt!”

“I-“ Merlin’s retort was cut off by something violent that got caught in his throat. Suddenly he was coughing and sneezing and shaking and spluttering all at the same time, only vaguely aware that there were now arms around him.

“Dammit Merlin.” Arthur whispered as Merlin held tight to his chest, “You’re such an idiot.”

While Merlin tried to right himself, Arthur turned to the knights, “We’re turning in for the night. Lancelot, can you start the lookout rotation and go from there?” 

Lancelot nodded and made his way to where Arthur had been sat just a minute ago. When Merlin had finally stopped coughing, Arthur turned to him.

“I’ll figure out what to do with you in the morning.” He decided, “For now, you and that dragon off yours can share my bed roll. Come on.”

With that, he took Merlin by the hand and led him towards his bed roll.


	20. 20th December

When Arthur woke up the following morning, he was quickly reminded of the sleeping servant beside him if what had happened last night. Once again, Merlin had disobeyed orders, even when he was at his weakest. Now not only was he going to risk putting himself in danger, but his uncontrollable magic could be putting him and the knights in danger as well. After lying in the dark for several hours, Arthur had thought about and understood that Merlin had followed Arthur around everywhere, and probably couldn’t bear to think about him being in danger. Arthur had tried to see it from Merlin’s perspective, and had understood his decisions, but that didn’t mean that he agreed with the idiot putting Arthur’s safety over his yet again. Merlin should know better than that by know.

With Percival patrolling the area, Arthur let himself relax for a while whilst everyone around him slept. Putting his arm around Merlin and putting his arm around his waist, Arthur guided Merlin’s head to his chest before kissing his head and resting his chin on top of it. Underneath the covers, Arthur could feel Aithusa wiggling around and trying to make herself more comfortable, before finally wriggling between the two and resting her head on Arthur’s thigh. Arthur felt himself grin at the warm body that was pressed between him and Merlin and pat her on the head before going back to his thoughts.

Why had Merlin made such an impulsive decision? True, he had quite a reputation for them… but going in to something where he didn’t know all the details? What sort of danger was out there? While he was sick? While he had no control of his magic? However strange it seemed to Arthur, it was obvious that Merlin had reached an entire new level of idiocy, as astounding as it sounded.

Wanting some questions answered, Arthur finally grew impatient after a grand total of two whole minutes and started shaking and kissing his servant awake.

“Hey. Hey clotpole.”

Merlin rummaged a bit before burying his head further inside Arthur’s chest, “Warm…”

“Stop that. Get up.”

“Mmmmno.”

Arthur poked him in the cheek, “Merlin.”

Merlin sniffled and burying his head in further, “I’ll blow my nose on your shirt.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Mhm.”

“Merlin, come on.”

After a while of Merlin complaining, he finally opened his eyes and lifted his chin gaze up at Arthur. His nose was red and tears were dancing in his eyes. Below them, Aithusa was rummaging around and, in his peripherals, Arthur could see her poke her head out slightly underneath the covers.

“Glad to see you’re awake.” Arthur smiled as he started patting Merlin’s head.

“I know you’re still mad at me.” Merlin said as he lowered his head and rested it on Arthur’s chest again.

“I am.”

“But at least you’re not yelling.”

“No.” Arthur said, kissing his hair, “I shouldn’t have shouted at you last night.”

“No, you had a right to.” Merlin murmured, “I know I took a big risk coming here, and that I’m probably going to be a burden more than anything. But I can’t bear not knowing if you’re safe or not.”

“I know. I’d probably do the same.” Arthur admitted, chuckling to himself.

“And it’s not like I’m going to be entirely useless.” Merlin spoke up, “I could use a sword.”

This time Arthur really did laugh, “You? A sword?”

“Why are you laughing? I can fight with them.”

“If your definition of fighting means tripping and impaling yourself on them then sure, why not.”

Merlin grinned up at him, hitting him in the chest, “I can do better than that!”

“Really? When was the last time you used a sword.”

“Um.” Merlin’s eyes grew vacant, “Uh… One… Two…?”

Arthur raised his eyebrows as Merlin was still trying to decide on an answer, “Months?”

“Three… years. Three years.” Merlin finished, coughing awkwardly.

Arthur closed his eyes and wrapped his arms tighter around Merlin, “You’d be dead out here if it wasn’t for me.”

“Yeah.” Merlin agreed, “Same goes for you.”

Arthur nodded, noticing how much his anger had ebbed away. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t stay mad at the idiot, “Just be careful out there. Remember that you don’t have magic. Remember that you’re not a powerful warlock right now. And for God’s sake, don’t you dare go running off head first into some bullshit when I’m not looking.”  
Merlin laughed, leant up and kissed him, “I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Good. With any luck, this trip should teach you a thing or two about the pros of following orders. And one last thing?”

Merlin looking up from kissing Arthur’s jawline, “What?”

“No lying. Okay, Merlin? Don’t lie to me.”

Behind the tears in Merlin’s eyes there was nothing but sincerity, “I won’t.”

Getting a little chocked up his well, Arthur swallowed and coughed, “Right. We’d better… we’d better start making a move.”

“Hm.” Merlin frowned as he paused to think, “No.”

Arthur sighed, “Merlin.”

“Don’t want to.”

“We need to get up.”

“The ancient cursed tomb can wait.”

“Merlin.” Arthur laughed when Merlin nuzzled the place that he knew tickled, “This is serious. Gaius said your senses were heightened, right? Do I sound loud to you right now?”

“Um.” Merlin said in a tone that made Arthur frown, “Not really-“

“Merlin.” Arthur clipped.

“Okay. Sorry. You’re a little loud.” Merlin admitted.

Arthur sighed. Seeing the disappointment in his eyes, Merlin shifted guiltily.

“Sorry.” He said sheepishly, “No lying starting from now.”

Not for the first time, Arthur wished that lies wouldn’t fall so easily from Merlin’s mouth, but he supposed 10 long years of doing nothing but the stuff made it pretty hard to just stop.

“Come on.” Arthur said as he threw the covers over them both, “Let’s get up.”

As soon as the covers were thrown back, Aithusa squawked in protest and dove under Merlin’s jacket, wrapping her tail around her waist and clutching to his back, shivering. Merlin laughed, petted her, and let her clutch onto him as he helped Arthur wake up the knights.

After they had settled down and had breakfast, Arthur got up and announced that it was time to pack up camp. While the knights all washed their pots, Merlin gathered all the bed rolls and put them on the respective horse. Needless to say, their packing up went a lot smoother than how they had set up camp the night before.

Just as Merlin was about to mount his horse, he was stopped by Arthur, “Merlin, a moment?”

Merlin turned to look at him, “Sure.”

The two took a step back as Arthur eyed Merlin’s luggage, which wasn’t there, and on Merlin’s own person. When he saw that nothing of interest was there, Arthur’s eyebrows flittered together briefly in confusion, “Where’s your sword?”

Merlin blinked, “What?”

“The sword? That you’re going to fight with? Since you don’t have magic right now?”

Merlin paused and pursed his lips, “Ah.”

“You don’t have a sword.”

“No.”

“Good lord, Merlin, you’re useless.”

“I could use a tree branch? I’m good with those.”

“You’re not fighting with a tree branch.”

“A really good tree branch, then.”

“No, just-“ Arthur sighed, rubbing his temples. Despite the fact that he knew he should probably be a little more worried, Merlin had to try and hide back a smile.

“I could use Aithusa? Sick her on them?”

“You can’t use a baby!”

“Alright then, I’ll think of something else.”

“What else is there to do? Sneeze on them?”

Merlin couldn’t help it. He snorted and quickly tried to cover up his grin, but it was to late. Arthur had seen it.

The king’s shoulder’s deflated, “You’re not taking this seriously.”

Merlin coughed and composed himself, “Sorry, Sire.”

“Sorry isn’t good enough when your life is on the line, Merlin!” Arthur shouted. Merlin couldn’t help but wince. Seeing his mistake, Arthur faltered, “Sorry. I shouldn’t shout.”

“No, you were right to.” Merlin said, “I’m not taking it seriously. I’m to used to the idea that I have magic. That I have a safety net. I haven’t quite realised what not having magic means yet. I’m sorry for laughing.”

“Just-“ Arthur sighed, “If we do happen to get into any danger, just… stay behind me, all right? It’s about time I started protecting you.”

Merlin gave him a small nod before Arthur turned around and walked over to his own horse. Merlin watched him mount it before mounting his own, giving his horse’s mane a small pat as he did so. Arthur clicked his tongue and tapped his heels into his own horse’s sides, and the knights horses and Merlin’s own followed soon after, the shortest peak of the White Mountain looming above them.

“So where is this tomb?” Merlin asked after a few minutes of silence, “Is it at the foot of the mountain? At the peak? Somewhere in the middle? Is it only accessible to sorcerers? Because if is, we’re kind of fu-“

“If you would shut up for one minute, Merlin.” Arthur started, already missing the silence for yesterday, “I would be able to tell you that Gaius told me where it was and how to get there.”

Merlin knitted his eyebrows in confusion, “He told you and not me?”

“You aren’t supposed to be here, Merlin.”

“Oh.” A flash of guilt struck Merlin as he reminded himself that Gaius would be awake by now, “Oh yeah.”

“Well, Gaius said the entrance was just below the entrance to the peak, in the biggest cave there is. Said to be home of the largest dragon in Camelot. Before they… you know… vanished.”

“Okay.” Merlin went over the information in his head as Aithusa perked her head up at the mention of dragons, “And what are we going to find in the cave? Is it supposed to be guarded by something? Is there just a door with a doormat?”

“If I knew, I would tell you, Merlin.” Arthur said, “Unfortunately, no one has been in the cave for years since the mountain is impossible to climb.”

Merlin bit his lip as he slowly nodded, “And our idiot plan to scale this impossible-to-climb mountain is…”

“Rope.”

Merlin did a double-take, “Rope.”

“Yes.”

“That’s it?”

Arthur nodded, “Yeah. Since the disease hasn’t shown itself for quite some time, no one really needed to look for the cure, so the tomb should still be in one piece. The mountain face in front of the cave has eroded over the years now, so there’s no way to get to it.”

“Apart from…” Merlin prompted.

“We’re going to go to the top of the mountain using the footpath and then dangle the ropes over the other side and hope that we make it.” Arthur said cheerfully, finishing things off with a smile.

Merlin sighed, inflating his cheeks as he slowly let air out, “We’re all going to die.”

“Does dying count as a plan?” Percival wondered as Gwaine threw his head back and laughed.

“I mean…” Merlin got ready to list the thousand things that were wrong with Arthur’s plan, “How are you going to dangle a rope of a cliff edge and just… hope it lands you in front of the cave below? Do you even know if the rope’s long enough? If it’s strong enough? What if after you’ve climbed down the rope you see that the cave is a little bit more to the left? Are you going to ask the knights to move you? How? And someone needs to be holding the rope, not all off us are going to make it into the cave. Also, you don’t even know what’s going to be in the cave! What if there’s a monster that starts attacking you the minute it sees the rope? What if there are some griffins up there? What if they attack the people who are holding the rope? Also, can I remind you that I don’t have magic! I’m not going to be able o save you from wyverns or griffins and I sure as hell am not setting Aithusa on them, so for once in your life would you just think-“

“If you would listen, for once in your life, Merlin.” Arthur countered, “You’d find that I have a solution for half of those problems.”

“Just half?” Merlin echoed incredulously.

“Percival is going to be the one who holds the rope for us all, since he’s the strongest.” Arthur started, “The rope is the longest and strongest we’ve got, so it should be enough. We’ve handled monsters before, we should be able to handle a hypothetical one and also yes, I’m aware you don’t have magic, but you never know when you might need someone to hold something.”

Merlin huffed at him and, as he looked around, noticed that they had now started the footpath up to the shortest mountain. The climb would push the horses for about an hour before the rest was up to them. The group fell silent as Merlin was left to his worries, nothing but the panting of his horse keeping him company.

With the sun bearing down on them, it felt like the climb took an age rather than the better part of an hour, but the group still managed to make It in good time. Following Arthur’s lead, the knights and servant dismounted their horses and went over to investigate the immensely dangerous and very steep cliff face opposite the footpath that sloped up towards the peak.

“Long drop.” Merlin commentated, the wind whipping his hair as he looked down towards the trees below.

“Quite, isn’t it.” Arthur tutted, “Luckily we have this rope.”

“You can’t be serious.” Merlin objected incredulously, “You can’t be using the rope! You have no idea where the cave is!”

“We don’t have anything else, Merlin.” Arthur tried to reason with him, “We’re going to try and put the rope down the centre and then I’ll climb down and see if I can see the cave.”

“You?” Merlin echoed, hysterical, “No! How stupid can you get? You’re going to throw yourself off the cliff face-“

“Need I remind you that I’m the King of Camelot and-“

“No, you don’t need to remind me because you shove it in my face every time to order me to do something!”

“Because that’s your job!”

“Then maybe you should pay me more, because frankly-“

“Ladies!” Gwaine’s voice interrupted theirs as he stepped between them, “You’re both pretty.”

“Gwaine.” Arthur sighed, “Why aren’t you unravelling the rope like I ordered?”

“Because it’s already unravelled.”

Arthur blinked, “Really? You mean you actually-“

“Lancelot just went down in your place.”

“He what?” Arthur practically screeched before turning to see three knights holding the rope off the cliff place and Lancelot most likely dangling over the abyss below.

“Lancelot!” Arthur shouted as he ran over to the cliff edge, “Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s perfect, Sire!” Lancelot shouted while clinging onto the rope for dear life while his feet pressed against the steep rock face with no footholds, “I think I can see the cave, it’s just a little bit more to the right.”

“Okay, you come back up, I’m going in your place.” Arthur said before Merlin nudged him harshly in the arm.

“Afraid I can’t do that, Sire.” Arthur glanced back down to see Lancelot grinning back up at him, “We’ll be here until sunset tomorrow before we convince Merlin to go through with letting you put yourself in danger.”

“Fair point.” Arthur nodded, “Alright. A little bit more to the right. Hold on!”

As soon as Merlin and Arthur had grabbed hold of the rope themselves, the six of them moved the rope as best as they could.

“Okay, that’s fine!” Came Lancelot’s shout, “I think I can swing myself in there.”

“No, don’t-“ Arthur tried to protest but the rope was already swinging. As much as Arthur protested, Lancelot kept swinging until he let go, using the momentum to carry him forth and only just land him in the cave.

“I’m alive!” Lancelot shouted as he dusted himself off.

“Fucks sake.” Merlin breathed to himself as he dragged his hands down his face. He really needed a raise.

“Okay, I’m going next, I have to make sure it’s safe for all of you.” The sound of Arthur’s voice snapped Merlin out of his thoughts.

“Like hell you are!” Merlin protested as Arthur made to grab for the rope, “I’m going first!”

“No you’re not and that’s an order.”

“I don’t care about orders.”

“You’re fired.”

“You know that’s not going to work!”

“Goddammit, Merlin, will you ever just listen to me?”

“Maybe when you finally decide to stop being an idiot!”

“Guys.” The two looked over to Leon as he addressed them sheepishly, “Hate to interrupt you, but Elyan just started his descent.

“Oh for Gods’-“ Arthur rushed back over to the side, “Elyan! Get up here, now! I said I’m next!”

“Sorry, Sire.” Elyan said as he practically slipped down the rope, “I can already see the cave. Final stretch, huh?”

Arthur could only curse as he watched Elyan slip down the rope and then, with Lancelot’s help, enter the cave. Fortunately, since they had managed to get the rope a little closer, Elyan didn’t need to swing into the cave.

“Okay.” Arthur breathed, “All of you, stand back, let me test-“

“Budge up.” Gwaine gave him a little shove before crouching down and gripping hold of the rope.

“Gwaine!” Arthur screeched while Merlin snickered in the background.

“Sorry, mate, you look funny when you’re pissed off.” With a devilish grin, Gwaine raised his eyebrows at him before disappearing over the cliff edge. After the four remaining knights and servant held on tight, it was reported by the knights below that Gwaine had made it safe and sound.

Arthur glared at Leon, who faltered under it, “Uh… after you…?”

“Thank you, Leon.” Arthur gave an exasperated sigh, “Honestly, how hard is it to follow orders-“

“Aithusa, now!”

Suddenly, while Arthur had been looking at the somewhat sheepish expression of Leon, he was now looking at a mass of white scales as the baby dragon leapt at his face and clung for dear life. Shouting in surprise, Arthur rolled his arms around a little before he finally got his bearings and started to yank the dragon off.

By the time he had, however, it was too late. When he next looked over the cliff edge, he saw Merlin halfway down, Aithusa now safely perched on his shoulder.

“Hold on tight, will you Arthur?” Merlin grinned innocently up at the man in a way that Merlin knew would infuriate him.

It wasn’t long after that that Arthur and Leon were down in the cave with them, the orange glow of the sunset behind them making their hair glow.

“It’s getting late.” Arthur muttered as he made a survey off the cave, “It looks pretty empty, but it’s too dark to explore the place now, we can’t risk getting lost. Lancelot, you’ve spent the longest in here, have you heard any sounds, seen any moving shadows.”

“None, Sire.” Lancelot answered, “But it couldn’t hurt to have someone on lookout.”

“Right you are. Gwaine, Elyan, Lancelot, since you all disobeyed me, you can take the first three shifts, in that order.” Arthur nodded to all of them and was pleased when none of them complained. Quickly he turned to Merlin, “And you-“ He grabbed Merlin’s wrist, tugged him close and whispered in his ear, “I’ll see to you when we’re back in Camelot.”

Arthur gave a satisfied smirk as he felt Merlin shiver in his arms and then let him go to address the knights once more, “We don’t have our bed rolls, so we’re just going to have to make do with what we have. Unfortunately, it’s probably not going to be that comfy a night for anyone.”

They all looked miserable, but it was to be expected. After they set up camp, Arthur tucked Merlin into his arms and, grateful for Aithusa’s warmth, fell asleep.


	21. 21st December

Merlin was the first to wake up this time, and did so because of the rather uncomfortable rocky surface that was digging into his side. Aithusa, fussy sleeper as she was, had refused to sleep on the ground and hadn’t let Merlin sleep until she was curled up on his chest. Beside him, Arthur faced towards him, asleep, with an arm around his waist. Merlin smiled sleepily at it for a few seconds before he remembered why they were there and why he had been sleeping on a particularly hard cave floor.

The sky outside was still dark, but Merlin could see the early pinks that were stretching out beyond the horizon. At the cave entrance, Merlin could still see the rope that was dangling slightly odd towards the left. Percival had most likely tied it around his wrist so that he wouldn’t accidentally let it go during his sleep. Before they had started their descent, Arthur had ordered Percival not to pull the rope up in case they had a medical emergency and Percival wasn’t able to hear them to lower down the rope.

After Merlin had poked Aithusa and woken her, he sat up and brushed Arthur’s arm aside, careful not to wake Arthur up. Finally, he managed to stand up and have his first proper glance around the cave.

Because of the sunlight that was streaming in, Merlin had a much better view of the cave then he had last night. At first appearances, there didn’t seem to be much there, just an ordinary cave that just happened to be abnormally large. However, what caused Merlin to become suspicious were the strange-seeming rocks at the back, so particularly placed and gleaming so well in the early sun that Merlin had to take a closer look for himself.

With his footsteps sounding loud and deafening in his ears, Merlin sniffed and wiped his eyes clear of both tears and sleep before reaching a hand out to feel out the surface of the rock. While it appeared to be the craggy, uneven surface of the back of the cave, Merlin wasn’t surprised to find that it wasn’t that case, and that it felt polished and smooth underneath his fingertips. Whatever It led to, the entrance was definitely fake.

Merlin brushed his fingers over it a few more times in bewilderment, wondering what was so special and precious beyond the secret entrance that was so important to protect. Did the cure really mean that much to the sorcerer? That they made sure that the cure was never found, since they believed that the cure was punishment? Merlin raced over the questions, but his wonder turned to panic as he went over the questions some more. There was obviously magic involved in this. And if he was going to undo it, Merlin was going to have to use magic himself. Shaking, Merlin stretched out a hand and whispered the only illusory spell that came to mind.

“Datgelu.”

Nothing. Merlin couldn’t feel anything sparkling from his fingertips, or the rush of magic in his blood. All he could hear were the echoes of his whisper bouncing around in his heightened ears.

Biting his lip, Merlin lowered his hand and stepped back, his frown getting slightly deeper as he surveyed the wall once more. Perhaps he didn’t have to perform a spell. Perhaps there was a different solution.

As he looked around in desperation, he didn’t notice Arthur noticing the cold space beside him, open his eyes and then turn around to see what he was doing.

“Merlin?” Arthur asked, his voice still addled with sleep, “What are you doing?”

“Does this wall seem strange to you?” Merlin ignored Arthur’s question and countered it with his own as he looked over towards his King. Arthur cast a strange look over to the wall and squinted at it, frowning.

“No?” Arthur returned his gaze to Merlin, “Merlin, did you bump your head in the night?”

“Honestly, Arthur.” Merlin sighed as he quickly stepped over the sleeping bodies of the knights and guided Arthur quickly to where he had been standing.

“Merlin, what are you- careful!” Arthur stumbled as he very nearly stepped on Gwaine’s hand.

“Come on!” Merlin continued to tug him, “Put your hand on this…”

With that, Merlin took Arthur’s hand and stretched it out towards the polished surface. Seeing what Merlin meant, Arthur brushed his hand against the wall a few times, similar to what Merin had done.

“Woah.” Arthur breathed, “This… this is the entrance?”

“It must be.” Merlin nodded as Arthur withdrew his hand, “The wall is obviously fake. The only question is how we’re getting in there.”

“Magic?” Arthur asked as if it were obvious, and then his eyes widened as he realised, “Oh.”

“Exactly.”

“And you can’t-“

“Already tried.”

Arthur bit his lip as he went through the same process that Merlin had tried before, “And there aren’t any triggers hidden around the cave, or…?”

“I was looking before you woke up.” Merlin explained, “But it would be better if we all looked as a group. Come on, help me wake the knights up.”

Soon enough, Merlin was shoving Elyan awake. Arthur quickly followed his lead, tapping Lancelot on the shoulder. Seeing what they were doing, Aithusa smirked and leapt into the air, before promptly divebombing Gwaine and waking him up with a shout of surprise.

After they had explained their situation to the knights and they had all felt for themselves what the back wall of the cave felt like, it wasn’t long before each and every knight were spread around the perimeter of the cave, brushing their fingers over every nook and cranny.

“What are we looking for exactly?” Leon asked as he ducked to avoid a pebble that had crumbled away from the ceiling.

“I don’t really know.” Merlin admitted sheepishly, “Something that could trigger the door to open. Since I can’t use magic, a secret trigger is hopefully here somewhere.”

“So it could be anything?” Elyan asked as he examined a crack in the rock, “A crack, a dip, maybe on the ceiling?”

“It could be anywhere.” Merlin shrugged helplessly.

“Hang on.” Arthur paused examining the floor of the cave, “Elyan may have a point.”

Merlin turned to him, “What do you mean?” 

“When people hide things, they want to do so in the place people will least expect, right?” Arthur explained, “So, the best place to hide the switch would probably be on the ceiling.”

“You have a point.” Merlin muttered, arching his neck to look at the ceiling, “I’ll have a look at the ceiling. Could you carry on with what you were doing?”

Kindly ignoring the fact that Merlin had just ordered his King about and hadn’t seemed to realise that it was against the rules, Arthur shook his head and crouched back down to what he was doing while Merlin tilted his head up to examine the rocky ceiling. Seeing what her master was doing, Aithusa did the same, despite not really knowing what the point of it all was.

This continued on for a few minutes more. While all the knights made their way along the section of wall that had been assigned to them, Merlin wondered about the cave, looking and checking to see if anything looked suspicious. When Merlin got the far left corner of the back of the cave, which was enveloped in shadows, Merlin suddenly pointed to the ceiling, “There!”

The knights stopped what they were doing and all gathered around Merlin, looking at where his finger was pointing.

“What is it?” Leon asked.

“This rock is a shade lighter than the rest of the rocks.” Merlin explained, “But this part of the cave curves slightly, so it’s not in the sun as much. Why would this one specific section of rock be slightly lighter even though it’s in the shadows.”

“I think you’ve got it Merlin.” Gwaine grinned and slapped Merlin on the back so hard that Merlin had to take a step forward as to not topple over, “One question though. How do we get to it.”

All seven of them stared up at the ceiling that was far to out of reach for them to just jump up and grab.

“I’ve got an idea.” Merlin said. Then, he picked Aithusa up from his shoulder and started murmuring to her in draconic, pointing to the lighter rock on the ceiling as he did so. Aithusa glanced between him and the switch a few times, but Arthur didn’t find the look on her face very reassuring.

“Isn’t Dragonlord magic considered to be.. well, magic?” Arthur watched as Aithusa stretched her wings and gave them an experimental flap.

“Ordering and forcing them to obey is magic.” Merlin explained, “But Aithusa and I are friends, all I had to do is ask her in our language.”

Arthur nodded, watching as Aithusa became slightly more confident and flapped her wings, hovered for a few seconds before landing with a satisfied sigh.

“That ceiling is very high up, though.” Arthur looked up just to prove his point, “Are you sure Aithusa is experienced enough for something like this?”

“I think so.” Merlin answered confidently, “Me and Morgana have seen how better she’s become at flying. She’s never had to fly this high, true, but I think I have something that might help her.

Arthur turned to him, “And that is…?”

Merlin turned to him with a grin, “I’m going to launch her.”

A few seconds later, a very dubious Arthur and his knights were lined up against the faux cave wall as Aithusa made herself comfortable on Merlin’s outstretched arm. Merlin was muttering to her in draconic as she rightened herself, probably reminders that the two had gone through countless of times before. Arthur’s doubt subsided a little when he saw the fire that burned in Aithusa’s eyes. It was clear how much she wanted to succeed.

“Okay.” Merlin snapped him out of his thought, “Ready?”

Aithusa gave small yap of confirmation, “Go!”

Merlin swung his arm into the air and Aithusa was launched, the momentum already carrying her halfway there. As soon as she was airborne she spread he wings and flapped them, trying to gain as much height as she could before she tired. Everyone watched her anxiously as the intervals between her flaps got shorter and shorter.

Just as she started dropping slightly though, Aithusa only just managed to press her nose against the switch before she started losing control. She spread her wings out and started gliding, flapping her wings whenever she had the strength. All the time her eyes were fixed on Merlin, who had his arms outstretched.

With the little ounce of control she had left, she barrelled into Merlin’s arms, who immediately caught her. As he did so, there was a loud groan as the knights stepped back to watch the cave door slide open.

Elyan whistled, “Looks like it worked.”

Arthur joined the knights in admiring the secret entrance for a second before he immediately got to work, “Don’t enter just yet. Search the sides pf the entrance, make sure there aren’t any traps.”

After a quick surveillance, the knights came up with nothing. After Merlin insisted that he had a look for himself, he came to the same conclusion. Next, it was a decision of who should go first.

“I’ll go.” Arthur volunteered.

“No.” Merlin immediately countered, “We both know that’s not going to happen.”

“I’ll go.” Lancelot stepped in, “By signing up to be a knight of Camelot, it is my duty to put my life on the line for my King.”

Without waiting for Arthur to protest, Lancelot started descending the staircase without hesitation.

“Hey! Wait up!” Leon called. When Lancelot paused, Leon offered an explanation, “Didn’t think I’d let you hog all the glory, did you?”

“Well if it’s glory you want, then count me in!” Gwaine smirked as he followed Elyan’s footsteps.

“You’re all going to get yourselves killed, at least look before you leap!” Leon said as he chased after them.

Together, Merlin and Arthur watched in amazement as the four knights all descended down the staircase as a group. When they reached the bottom, they all turned up to look at them.

“Coast is all clear!” They heard Leon’s distant call.

Unable to hide the grin on his face, Arthur took his first step forward.

“Nope.” Merlin shoved him out of the way, took the first step, then turned and held out his hand, “Together?”

Smiling, Arthur took it, “Together.”

Hand in hand, the two climbed down the staircase, landing safely at the bottom.

“We’ve done a full survey of the room.” Elyan jogged up to them when they had reached the floor, “There doesn’t seem to be any kind of trap.”

“But the cave carries on in two different directions.” Lancelot confirmed, “We think it might be some kind of maze.”

Gwaine sighed and looked down, only to find a pile of bones near his feet, “Charming.”

“Where’d the bones come from?” Merlin asked, shivering and retreating a little behind Arthur at the sight of them.

“I don’t want to know.” Gwaine frowned, glaring at them with distaste.

“Think it was some kind of monster?” Leon guessed, looking to Arthur for confirmation and orders.

“We should assume that it was.” Arthur spoke up, “It wouldn’t surprise me that our sorcerer left some sort of beast to guard his treasure.”

“Brilliant.” Merlin muttered. He had seen it coming of course, but one could always hope, “So, what’s our plan?”

Arthur turned to him, “With any luck the beast doesn’t know that we’re down here yet, so we should have the element of surprise on our hands.”

“What about the groan that the door made when it was opening?” Lancelot asked.

Arthur had opened his mouth to continue with his plan, but the question made him freeze, “Oh no.”

A roar burst out of the darkness and shook the cave, pebbles raining down. Merlin shouted in pain and clamped his hands over his ears, tears squeezing out of his eyes. Arthur saw his reaction and immediately pulled him into his body, kissing his hair as he did so.

“There’s our beast.” Gwaine muttered, suddenly feeling very sorry for the heap of bones on the floor.

“It’ll be in the maze somewhere.” Elyan pointed, “He knows we’re here. Should we go in and try to lose it.”

Arthur nodded, “Yes, but don’t split up, any of you! That’s an order!”

Grabbing Merlin’s hand (Merlin’s over hand was still clamped over an ear) Arthur ran into the maze, the knights following behind him. Another roar burst out, and Arthur noticed the cave walls shaking.

“They’re shaking a lot more than they did last time!” Arthur called out to the knights, “It’s getting closer! And someone make sure to mark each turn with their sword!”

The knight that took up the rear, which was Lancelot, felt the edge of the cave and scraped it with the edge of his sword, making sure that the grove was deep enough so that he could feel it. After doing so, he jogged to join the others.

When another roar burst out, Arthur dragged his free hand along the wall and found that the wall only left a faint tremor of rumbles. “We’re losing it!” Arthur tried to say as quietly as he could, “Try not to make any noise so that the creature doesn’t pinpoint where we are.”

As a group, the running simultaneously stopped as the knights tried to bring their noise down to a minimum. They continued for a few more minutes in complete darkness, marking groves that they could feel in the dark and making turns.

“That’s strange.” Merlin whispered as he shook his head, trying to stop his ears from ringing, “The beast hasn’t roared for a while now.”

“Maybe it figured out that the roars were giving its location away.” Leon muttered back.

“No.” Arthur answered, “We’ve hunted beasts down before, and they’ve never been this intelligent. I don’t think it’s chasing us anymore. I think it’s guarding.”

“Which means it’s letting us come to it.” Lancelot finished.

“I think so.” Arthur confirmed grimly, “If we’re going to face this beast no matter what, then so be it. For now, let’s just try to keep as quiet as we can.”

With that, they continued as normal, marking the way as they went as they trekked further and further into the maze. With every step a second ticked away, a thousand steps later it had felt like they had been down there forever. Sweat was pouring down their foreheads and the musty air was making their throats ache. Still, they stumbled through the darkness until Merlin made them stop.

“Hold on.” He whispered as Arthur bumped into him, “Do you hear that?”

There was a deafening silence as the knights reached out for an answer.

When Arthur shook his head, Merlin answered, “Snoring. Heightened hearing, right?”

“It’s asleep.” Arthur concluded, “Looks like we’ll get that element of surprise after all.”

Biting his lip and sensing a battle on his hands, Merlin turned and started leading the group to where the snoring was. After a while, the knights started hearing it to and all started drawing their swords, their shoulders tensing with the promise of battle.

“There.” Merlin nodded to the sleeping form of the beast.

Gwaine glanced it over, his eyes more or less used to the dark by now. Unfortunately, all the knights could only see the outline of the beast, “We can’t see much. How do we know how to get a fatal wound in?”

Merlin sighed, “We don’t. We’re just going to have to… hope for the best. Hinder it a little.”

“Right then.” Arthur said, “All of us at once?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Leon whispered back.

“Merlin…” Arthur turned to him, “If we had some pom poms, maybe you wouldn’t be so useless.”

“Shut up and get it over with.” Merlin said, his nerves slipping into his voice a little.

“Why, scared?”

“No, annoyed with you for not shutting up.”

“The same could be said for you.”

Aware of the sleeping beast behind Arthur, Merlin thought it best not to fire back at him. Instead he nodded and, for once in his life, kept quiet. Arthur returned the nod and turned back around to find that all four of his knights had their swords drawn and pointing towards the beast, surrounding it as they did so. Arthur surveyed the scene then drew his sword and walked up towards them.

“On three.” Arthur whispered, “One… two…”

On three, all five plunged their swords into the beast’s body as far as they could without losing the swords themselves. The beast gave a loud roar of anguish, and, despite Merlin already having his hands over his ears, it wasn’t enough for the sound to feel like it was shattering his skull. It was even enough to drown out his own sobbing.

As he tried to watch what was happening, he found that he couldn’t hear a thing. Arthur was shouting something, and the others were trying to follow his orders. The beast was thrashing about, the cause for all the roaring and the splitting headache that Merlin now had. As the wave of dizziness crashed into him, Merlin thought that the best thing he could do right now was sink against the wall and try not to pass out.

However, as his legs gave way beneath him and the screaming became to loud, Merlin felt the dizziness and the shouting and the sobbing and the roaring to become to much, and it wasn’t much later before he was engulfed in darkness.

“On me!” Arthur shouted to compete with the deafening roar, “Don’t get crushed by it’s thrashing.”

As the knights gathered behind him, Arthur tried his best to pinpoint the best location to stab the thrashing beast. Figuring that Merlin had somehow gotten to safety and had retreated down a few corridors, Arthur supposed that an all-out attack was the best thing that they could do.

“It can see us.” Arthur figured as they leapt aside to dodge a charge, “Next chance you get, go for they eyes! In the meantime, all of you keep moving, he can’t attack us all at once!” 

When Gwaine saw the silhouette of the beast charge towards him, he swivelled out of the way and managed to slash at the beast’s side as he did so. It wasn’t quite the eyes, but it would do.

In fact because of Gwaine’s attack, it completely threw off the beast’s balance and sent it toppling to the ground, thrashing and bucking.

“Now!” Leon roared and, swinging his sword to slash at the waving legs, he promptly dragged his sword along the beasts’ eyes, “There!”

However, the close range also gave the beast a small advantage, and one of the beasts’ legs caught Leon so hard that he struggled to breath, and momentarily had to retreat and recover.

“It’s not down yet!” Elyan observed, “Lancelot, do you think you could cover me while I go for the legs?”

“Sure thing!” Together, the two knights moved in back to back and swung their swords down in the two legs each that they were facing, slashing at them when the beast’s legs lashed out at them.

“Lance, watch out!” Came Arthur’s call from behind him. Not to soon either. As soon as Lancelot had stumbled back, dragging Elyan with him, Lancelot shivered as he heard jaws snapping around the area where he had been standing.

“He’s all yours!” Lancelot called out to Arthur as he retreated. Arthur came forward and looked at the blind, broken beast that lay before him.

“I would have preferred more of a challenge.” Arthur admitted, “But I suppose you’ll do.”

With that, Arthur drove his sword into the beast’s stomach until it no longer thrashed around. Sighing, Arthur took out his blade and sheathed it.

“Merlin?” Arthur called. Then, teasing, “Merlin, it’s alright to come out now.”

A silence replied. Arthur bit his lip in worry, and stepped forward when he saw the figure of Aithusa glide towards him.

“Aithusa.” Arthur held out an arm for Aithusa to perch on. “Where’s Merlin?”

A small chirrup from the young dragon and a brief jerk of the head had Arthur setting off in the right direction.

“Here!” When he heard the call from Lancelot, it only made him walk faster.

What he stumbled upon was Lancelot cradling Merlin, looking up at him.

“He passed out.” Lancelot explained, “The sound must have been too much for him.”

“It’s ok, I’ll take it from here.” Arthur took Merlin from Lancelot and held him to his chest, “Now to focus on finding that cure thing.”

“About that, I was looking for anything that might lead us to it while Lance was attending to Merlin,” Leon said, “And I think I might of found it. Here…”

He trailed off and instead started to walk down a path none of them had taken yet. When they reached the end of it, a blue flower greeted them, glowing softly and casting a ghostly light onto Merlin’s face.

“That must be it.” Lancelot said, “We must have to… cook it in a potion or something.”

“That’s only something I’m trusting Gaius with.” Arthur said as he picked the flower and tucked it into his pouch. He had hoped that Merlin could take the cure as soon as they had found it, but he supposed not, “For now let’s find our way out of here. Since we can’t get Merlin back to the top of the mountain in this state, we’ll have to spend the night in the cave again. Come on, we’d better get started.”

With a final, triumphant look shared between the group, the knights all turned and left the maze, feeling for the groves they had left in the walls along the way.


	22. 22nd December

Arthur stared up at the rocky ceiling that he had been looking at for the past few hours, mindlessly gliding his hand up and down Merlin’s back as he had waited for the sun to rise. He had taken the first shift on lookout, but after he had Gwaine had taken his place, he had found that he wasn’t able to get to sleep. Instead, he spent the entire night either checking that the cure was still safe inside the bag or lying down as close to Merlin as he could get. Merlin had yet to wake up ever since he passed out, but Arthur wasn’t concerned. Merlin’s breathing was peaceful and rhythmic, and every so often he heard a soft moan and saw a small twitch as Merlin got comfortable as he could on the rocky floor. Despite the blackout, it was clear to Arthur that Merlin would wake up soon.

Now, sunlight was starting to sneak into the cave. While it wasn’t yet light enough to wake up the knights, Arthur could still see the looming entrance of cave that they had bundled out of just a few short hours before. Even though things had remained silent for quite some time, and with good reason, Arthur still half-expected for another monster that they hadn’t counted for to come bursting out and catch them all unaware. The paranoia had been so strong that Arthur had spent the majority of the night staring at it, straining his ears for any warning of danger, his arm wrapped tightly around Merlin’s waist.

When nothing of the sort happened for a few hours, Arthur started to ease himself slightly, curling up against Merlin with the thought of going to sleep. But as thoughts about what awaited him when he got back to Camelot: the feast preparations, the feedback of the festival on the 25th and the nobles arriving for the Winter Yule set him back on edge again, and he was left spending the last few hours of the night staring up at the ceiling, Merlin’s steady breathing beside him being the only thing that was keeping him from an outright panic.

Now, as time wore on and the sunlight crept further in, Arthur began to notice that the knights were shifting in their sleep more and more. Lancelot, who was on lookout duty, was watching the sunrise with a peaceful smile of his face. Arthur had felt envious at first, but then remembered the panic that Merlin would most likely be in if he didn’t wake up with Arthur by his side. With his thoughts occupied by Merlin once more, Arthur turned to look at him to see how he was doing. While Merlin still had a pale demeanour and sweat glistening on his forehead, it was clear by how his eyelids moved and how he unconsciously responded to Arthur touching him that it wouldn’t be long until Merlin woke up. Arthur took one last longing up at him before he finally sat up.

“Lancelot?” He asked as the knight turned to him, “Time to wake the others up.”

With a curt note, Lancelot promptly rose and walked over to Elyan, gently shaking him and telling him it was time to wake up. Arthur went around the perimeter of the cave and did that with the other knights. When he got around to Merlin, he slowly crouched down and gave an experimental shake. In a brief moment of hope, Merlin stretched for a little bit and made a small sound that had Aithusa sniffing at him, but all to quickly Merlin stopped and went back to sleep again. Arthur sighed but, as he walked over to the knights, tried to hide his disappointment.

“How’s Merlin?” Gwaine asked as he nodded to the serving boy.

“He’s still sleeping. I don’t think he’s well enough to wake up yet.” Arthur shook his head, “And I’m not going anywhere until he’s ready.”

“Someone’s going to have to tell Percival.” Lancelot reminded him, “He doesn’t deserve to be kept in the dark about what’s going on.”

“I’ll climb up the rope and inform him of what’s going on.” Leon popped up, “You stay here until Merlin is ready to make the climb for himself.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Arthur nodded, “Be careful on the way up.”

Leon smiled and, before Arthur could change his mind, Leon made his way over to the rope that was swaying slightly in the wind. Giving it an experimental tug, Leon shouted, “Percival? Are you up?”

From above, Leon heard the distant cry, “Are you coming up?”

“Yes. Brace yourself!”

After waiting for a few seconds while Percival got a firm grip on the rope, Leon tested it a few times more before finally leaping off, setting his feet against the cave wall and started scaling the mountain surface. Once Arthur had watched him go, he turned to the others, “You’re free to follow after Leon if you like. I’m going to stay here until Merlin is ready to go.”

“Then I’m staying with you.” Gwaine said, “Can’t let you two lovebirds sit in this lonely cave all by yourselves, can we?”

“Do you think we should try shaking him?” Elyan asked with guilt written all over his face, “We need to start getting back to Camelot as soon as we can. Do you think we can hurry the process up a bit?”

“I’ve already tried to shake him a little.” Arthur admitted, “But it didn’t do too much.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing.” Lancelot offered, “With all the heightened senses that Merlin had right now, is it wise to start shaking him awake?”

Arthur sighed, cursing himself for not having thought of that earlier, “You have a point.”

“Then let’s just wait.” Lancelot continued, “Merlin’s strong. He’ll be with us before you know it.”

Arthur sighed, but knew Lancelot was right. Forcing Merlin awake after such a splintering headache could risk making things worse. Besides, it couldn’t be that long now.

“Alright, we’ll wait here.” Arthur agreed, “But not all of us. Elyan, Lancelot, you two climb up and help Percival and Leon with the horses. If we’re lucky, we should all be up on the mountaintop within the next hour or so.”

“Yes, Sire.” The two chorused together. Arthur watched as Lancelot tugged on the rope, shouting up to Percival that they were on their way up. Then, as soon as Lancelot had climbed out of view, Elyan shortly after, Arthur turned his attention back to Merlin. Aithusa, who had looked like she didn’t quite know what to do with herself for the past hour or so, was nudging Merlin with her snout, trying to get him to wake on her own terms. One glance at her and Arthur could tell that she was scared out of her mind.

“Don’t worry, girl.” Arthur crouched down to give her an experimental pat on the head, “He’ll get his lazy arse in order soon.”

Aithusa looked at him strangely, as if trying to figure out what he meant, before curling up and sitting beside him. Arthur took the display of trust as a compliment and tucked in his knees so that he was sitting as well. When he prompted Gwaine to join them with a jerk of his head, the knight just shrugged and sat beside Arthur without question.

“He looks good.” Gwaine commentated, “You know, for someone who had the luck to be the only person to catch a disease that hasn’t been around for decades.”

“Yes.” Arthur agreed, not looking away from Merlin’s sleeping figure. Then after a pause, a small smile of amusement came over his face, “He does have the most abysmal luck doesn’t he?”

“You’ve only just noticed?” Gwaine chuckled, “Getting into bar fights, getting poisoned, punched, pelted with fruit, fighting wizards, witches, bandits, you’d think the guy had a bucket list or something.”

Arthur nodded along, reminding himself of all the times in the past where he had thought Merlin’s only talent was being a magnet for trouble. Now, a few years later, he had realised just how right he had been. And how wrong he had been as well.

“That’s what I like about Merlin though.” Gwaine decided, “He’s always trying his best. No matter what life throws at him, no matter what sort of trouble he has to face, he’s always managed to do it with a smile, and he doesn’t expect a single thanks in return.”

“He’s a good friend.” Arthur murmured, too lost in his own thoughts of Merlin to be able to hold up his side of the conversation properly.

“Come now, Arthur!” The slap on the back that Gwaine gave him was more than enough to snap Arthur out of his thoughts, “We all know he’s a lot more than a friend, isn’t he?”

“Yes, yes, fine!” Arthur swatted Gwaine’s hands away as he fought to correct himself, “Merlin’s special. He always has been.”

“Well, I know that.” Gwaine rolled his eyes, “What I meant was he’s special to you.”

“Of course he is.” Arthur answered, “He’s the most important thing in my life, and I’d give my entire kingdom if it meant his safety.”

Gwaine opened his mouth to reply, but a twitch for Merlin had him distracted, “Merlin?” He asked tapping the servant’s arm slightly, “Merlin!”

For a few seconds, the two knights and Aithusa watched with bated breath as Merlin slowly opened his eyes.

“Arthur?”

“Merlin.” Arthur smiled at the sound of Merlin’s voice again, “Do you need help sitting up?”

Instead of answering, Merlin instead seemed to think that he could do it himself and, after moaning in discomfort a few times, managed to get his arms under him. Arthur, seeing how shaky his arms actually were, got his arms around Merlin’s waist and helped him up.

“Where am I?” Merlin muttered. When he was looking around, Arthur saw that his eyes were still quite vacant, and that his vision probably hadn’t fully returned to him.

“We’re still in the cave.” Arthur answered. When he felt Merlin tense, he piped up, “Don’t worry though. The monster’s gone.”

“The cure?” Merlin coughed slightly as Aithusa scrambled into his lap and started pawing at his stomach, her claws getting caught in his shirt.

“We found it.” Arthur answered, kissing his temple, “We just need to get you back up there and then we can set off.”

“Okay.” Merlin said, his voice getting more steady as he started coming to. As he left Merlin to recover, Arthur glanced up at Gwaine, “Gwaine, could you take the bag with the cure in it and go to the top? I need to focus on getting Merlin to the top right now.”

“Sure thing.” Gwaine said as he attached the small pouch to his belt, “Glad you’re okay, Merlin.”

Merlin gave him a small smile and then the knight turned towards the rope, tugging it a few times to let Percival know that he was coming up. A few seconds later, Gwaine was scaling the cliff face and was soon out of sight.

Arthur let out a sigh of relief now that all of his knights were safe and accounted for up at the top of the hill. Now, all that he needed to worry about is Merlin.

“Merlin?” He asked, turning his attention back to the servant, “Can you stand?”

“I think so.” Merlin answered, tucking his legs beneath his as he started to straighten. With Arthur’s hands pressed firmly on his hip and back, he anxiously watched as Merlin stood on his feet.

“How do you feel?” He asked.

“Good.” Merlin nodded, as if trying to convince himself, “Let me try and walk.”

“Merlin-“

“Arthur.” Merlin interrupted, “Please.”

Biting his lip, Arthur slowly let go and went to stand next to Aithusa, who was tilting her head curiously, unable to understand why her master seemed to shaky.

Starting with baby steps, Merlin walked around the perimeter of the cave, his hand hovering beside the wall in case he were to stumble, which he did do a few times, Arthur taking a step forward to help every time he did so.

“I can do it!” Merlin called to stop Arthur in his tracks after the fifth time that this had happened. Slowly but surely, Merlin was getting more confident and his head was becoming more and more clear. After a few more laps around the cave, Arthur noticed that Merlin was waking normally.

“Do you think you’ll be okay?” Arthur asked.

“I think so.” Merlin answered, “Could you take Aithusa, though? I don’t want a dragon holding onto me while I’m trying to focus.”

“Sure.” Arthur answered.

“Okay then. I think I’m ready.” Merlin said, “I’m going to start the climb up.”

Before Arthur could protest, Merlin turned and started to make his way over to the rope and tug it to let Percival know that he was coming up. With one final nod to Arthur, Merlin grabbed the rope, attached himself to the cliff face and started climbing.

After the first few steps, Merlin already felt like his muscles were burning. Still, he fought to put one foot in front of the other, ignoring his erratic breathing and his pounding heart. He was slightly aware of Arthur shouting and Percival saying something in reply, but the blood was roaring in his ears to loudly for him to process what they were saying. After a few alarming slip-ups, Merlin took a while to realise that he was being raised, and that the rope was slowly moving upwards. Just as he felt like his grip was slipping, he felt arms grab him and haul him over the edge.

“Merlin!” Lancelot greeted as Merlin flopped to the ground, panting, “I’m glad you’re all right.”

“So am I.” Merlin wheezed out, coughing and spluttering.

“I’m just going to send the rope back over for Arthur.” He heard Percival call as he tried to get his breath back.

Their was a flurry of activity around him as the knights helped Arthur up, for Merlin was to busy trying to get himself back in order to pay attention to what was happening. Next thing he knew, Aithusa was diving into his chest and Arthur had his arms around him, kissing his temple.

“Merlin! Are you alright.” Arthur asked. Merlin was only just able to process the question before coming up with an answer.

“Uh-huh.”

“Eloquent, as usual.”

“Uh-huh.”

Arthur chuckled at him before regarding his knights, “Are the horses ready?”

Percival nodded, “Yes, Sire. They’ve had 2 days’ rest and have been well fed.”

“Alright then.” Arthur grinned, ready to put this adventure behind him, “Let’s start heading back to Camelot.”

With the cure to Merlin’s illness still safely tucked away in a pouch that was fastened to Gwaine’s belt, the knights and the servant, after needing a little help from Arthur, all mounted their horses and were off, speeding down the mountain and along the forest path in an attempt to get to Camelot as soon as possible.

With the wind in Arthur’s hair, Arthur bent down low, wishing more than anything that the horse could speed up and show him his home on the horizon. Despite all the tasks and the paperwork that he wasn’t looking forward too, he knew that leaving for a three-day journey was a risk that wasn’t really the best move to make, and Arthur knew that there were already repercussions waiting for him back at the castle that Arthur wanted to attend to as quickly as possible. Not only that, but Arthur knew that Gaius was the probably the only one who knew what to do with the cure in order for it to affect Merlin. For that to happen, they needed to get to Camelot as quickly as possible.

As the horses thundered along, Merlin bent down low and tried to ignore the hooves that were banging on in his head. While they weren’t quite as bad as the shouting and screaming and swearing and roaring that was going on during the knights’ fight with the beast, Merlin could still feel pain trying to smash it’s way out of his skull. He considered forcing the knights to stop and getting the cure of Gwaine now and swallowing it whole, but he knew how stupid an idea that was. The cure was in it’s raw form right now, and none of them knew what to do with it. However, it didn’t make the situation any better, and it was all Merlin could do to squeeze his eyes shut and think about Arthur. 

Beside him, Aithusa was hanging on for dear life, squealing in complaint against the rush of the wind. As quickly as he could, Merlin took the young dragon of his shoulder and put her in front of his stomach, where she would be guarded from most of the wind. Aithusa blinked at her new position in surprise, as if being safe during horse-riding had never actually occurred to her. With a happy and content purr, she made herself comfortable and spread her wings, enjoying the feel of the wind underneath them as she admired the scenery around her.

While Aithusa admired the scenery, she noticed that it was changing quickly. From the forest that they were running in to the fields that were suddenly all around them as the trees became less and less frequent. Aithusa admired the vast expanse of the grass and the farms that surrounded her. As she looked up, she imagined soaring on the view from above, and wondering what she could see from a bird’s eye perspective. She suddenly had a longing for the clouds, but as she heard her master groan in pain beside her, she knew that now wasn’t the time.

The hours dragged on and yet the horses charged forward, only stopping near a lake for a fifteen minute rest and drink. Other than that, they were riding, carrying their knights back home. They were rewarded with cheers and laughter when finally Camelot castle appeared in the distance the setting sun casting it in a warm and friendly glow.


	23. 23rd December

Merlin groaned slightly as he felt the sunlight prise itself gently underneath his eyelids. Easing them open, Merlin smiled slightly as he felt small paws make their way along his chest and a snout sniff at his chin.

“Morning, Aithusa.” Merlin said as he opened his eyes, “Sleep well?”

Aithusa chirped happily to see Merlin awake, and hopped off his chest when he started sitting off. When he raised a hand to his forehead, Merlin breathed a sigh of relief when he found his forehead to be it’s normal temperature. 

“The cure seems to have done it’s job.” Merlin told Aithusa, “I feel great.”

Aithusa spread her wings happily flapping them a bit before settling down. Merlin chuckled at her enthusiasm before looking up when there was a sudden knock on the door.  
“Merlin?” Merlin heard Gaius call from the other side, “Are you awake? You need to take the other half of the potion.”

“Oh, right! Come in!” Merlin answered, then as he pat Aithusa on the head, “I’d almost forgot.”

“You do have a tendency to do that, don’t you.” Gaius chuckled as he ambled through the door, carry a bottle of blue liquid so clear that it may as well have been water despite the unmistakeable tint to it, “You remember what I said? Half of the potion yesterday evening and the rest of it this morning.”

“I remember now.” Merlin grinned up at him as he straightened, bracing himself for the infamous taste of Gaius’ potions. Seeing this, Gaius scoffed as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Now, don’t be like that. It’s not going to be as bad as last time.”

Merlin frowned, “It’s not? You mean you added some honey?”

“And risk tampering with the potions affects? No, dear boy, I’m implying that since you’ve grown used to the taste, you’ll be able to stomach it this time around.”

“Oh.” Merlin sunk a little, knowing from personal experience that this wouldn’t be the case, and that in just a few minutes time he would be chucking up carrots in the waste barrel underneath his bed. 

“Now then.” Gaius said as he unscrewed the bottle of the potion. Merlin was already reaching for the waste barrel, “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Merlin lied, reaching out a hand for the potion. Gaius handed it to him and as soon as he did so, Aithusa sniffed it curiously, only to recoil in disgust. Merlin didn’t take it as a reassurance.

“You’ll be fine.” Gaius said as they both watched Aithusa gag, “The sooner the better.”

“Right.” Merlin looked unhappily at the potion and, after hesitating a good few times, finally chucked it back in one go and swallow. As soon as it had gone down, the unpleasant taste in his mouth caused him to cough and splutter.

“It’s just as bad as last time!” Merlin wheezed as he tried to get himself back under control.

“Here.” Gaius said, handing him a glass of water. Merlin snatched the glass and downed it just as quick as he had done the potion. While it didn’t stop the coughing entirely, it did cause the intervals between the coughs to become longer and longer, until eventually Merlin was sat back in bed, panting, trying to get his breath back.

“Are you alright now?”

“Yeah. Think so.” Merlin shook his head slightly, wiping his forehead from all the sweat, “Wait. Hold on.”

After a tense few seconds of silence, Merlin scrambled over the edge of the bed, grabbed the barrel and threw up in it. 

“Thank the Gods there was only one of those cures in the tomb.” Merlin sighed, “At least I’ll never have to take that potion again.”

“Indeed.” Gaius patted Merlin on the back as he shook out the last few coughs, “Though it wouldn’t hurt to get a sample of the soil that the flower grew in. If the sickness ever were to come back, we’d need some way to fight back against it.”

“Yeah. Unfortunately you have a point.” Merlin breathed, trying to get himself back under control, “But the soil is stuck under a maze, it isn’t going anywhere. That can be a job in the new year.”

“Right.” Gaius agreed, “You still need to get that set list of yours practised and perfect for the Winter Yule feast, don’t you.”

“Don’t remind me.” Merin groaned as he looked over the list of spells that he had left on his bedside, “With my magic acting up for the past few days, I haven’t been able to practice at all.”

“Then it’s about time you start.” Gaius gave him a pat on the back before he straightened, “You’ve got about a week to get it right.”

“And if I make a single mistake then the nobles are going to hate magic forever.” Merlin groaned, flopping down onto the bed. Gaius turned towards him, his eyebrows scrunched together.

“Merlin, wherever did you get that idea?” Gaius chuckled at the lanky form of the servant on his bed, “Don’t be so dramatic. If you do make any mistakes, then yes, the nobles might be a bit tense towards you, but it’s not going to make them hate magic forever.”

“Mistakes aren’t going to make them like magic, either.” Merlin mumbled into his pillows.

“Well, they’re not going to like magic if you’re perfect, either!” Argued Gaius. At this, Merlin sat up in bed, turning towards him.

“They’re not.” Merlin asked, tilting his head slightly. Watching him closely, Aithusa did the same thing.

“No, dear boy.” Gaius smiled fondly, “Don’t you think that’s a little naïve? One perfect show performed by one sorcerer isn’t going to immediately change their minds on magic. It’ll make them doubt a little, sure, but it’s going to take years until they fully convince their minds.”

“I suppose so.” Merlin sighed as Aithusa curled up in his lap.

“But don’t make this think that you can get carried away with too many mistakes.” Gaius’ tone became a little more serious, “True, one or two mistakes won’t hurt, but to many might make them doubt not only your skill, but Arthur’s decision to trust in you. In this performance, Merlin, not only do you represent magic, but you represent Arthur as well.”

“Yeah.” Merlin gave another sigh, the weight on his shoulders getting heavier and heavier the more he thought about it, “Better get a start on it then, hadn’t I?”

O=II==========>

“There!” Merlin called triumphantly as the butterflies flew around the room.

After several attempts featuring disfigured butterflies and uncontrollable swarms, Merlin now guided a horde of perfect butterflies, each a different colour and shape around the physician’s chambers. Gaius was sat at the table, watching in amazement.

“You did it!” He called, laughing and ducking as the butterflies flew overhead.

“Just a sec!” Merlin said as he made the butterflies fly around the room once more, “I want to do something a little more on the evening of the feast. If I can get all the butterflies into the middle of the room…”

With his eyes blazing a brighter gold, Merlin guided the butterflies to the centre of the room and then, as a small grunt of effort left his mouth, the butterflies all fluttered together to make the shape of a bigger butterfly, come to life in an animated cacophony of colours and patters and butterflies.

“And then…” Merlin shook his head slightly, aware of the slight sweat trickling down his forehead.

As his eyes continued to burn gold, Merlin watched in amazement of his own skill as the butterflies separated from their magnum opus and then dispersed around the room, flying all around the room in smaller patterns.

“I want them to fly to each guest.” Merlin panted, “I want every guest to have a butterfly that they can interact with and talk to for the rest of the night.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little ambitious?” Gaius asked as he watched he butterflies around him evaporate into smoke.

“Maybe.” Merlin shrugged, “But this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve gone a little overboard.”

“Merlin, these are going to be noble guests, you can’t just faint in front of them.”

“But I’ll be impressing them! It’s worth it?”

“You think impressing a couple of people encased in jewellery is more important then your own health?”

“I need them to like me! To like magic! So what if I go a little overboard?”

“Merlin, we’ve talked about this!” Gaius sighed, “You’ve only just recovered from a disease. If Arthur were to find out you’ve been pushing yourself to hard and don’t care if you faint in front of the nobles, then he’ll have both mine and your heads! You know how sick with worry you already make him!”

“I know.” Merlin wiped the sweat of his forehead as the smoke that had once been butterflies vanished into thin air, “But Arthur needs to be impressed as well. If I mess up in front of him…”

“Merlin, Arthur’s not going to think any differently of you if you mess up a little…”

“Exactly! He’s not going to think any differently of me because he already thinks that I’m useless!”

A silence settled in the room, one that not even a colourful, dancing group of butterflies could lift back up again.

Gaius was the first to speak, “Arthur doesn’t think you’re useless, Merlin.”

“I know.” Merlin muttered, taking a seat next to Gaius.

“It doesn’t sound like it.”

Merlin sighed, biting his lip, “I passed out. When the knights were fighting that beast.”

Gaius straightened, “You didn’t tell me that.”

“Well, I’m telling you now.”

“Merlin!” Gaius scolded, clearly annoyed, “How many times do I have to tell you to tell me when something bad happens?”

“It’s just-“ Merlin’s voice faltered, so he paused a little and tried again, “It’s just that I didn’t do anything to help Arthur. I couldn’t because I didn’t have my magic.”

“You’re not useless without you’re magic, Merlin.”

“Oh, really? Because it bloody looks like it!” Merlin snapped, his eyes instantly filling with regret when he heard the volume of his voice, “I need to impress Arthur with my magic on the night of the feast.”

“Merlin-“

“I need to show him that I’m not useless.”

“Merlin!”

“What if my magic gets taken away from me again?” Merlin was panicking now, “Gaius, I was never more scared than I was those three days I didn’t have my magic. What if it happens again and I can’t protect Arthur? What if I really do become useless?”

“You’re not going to, Merlin.” Gaius reassured him, “Arthur doesn’t see you just because of your magic. You’re his friend, Merlin, wether you have magic or not.”

“But I can’t protect him if I’m just his friend, Gaius!” Merlin snapped, getting impatient, “I have to show him how powerful my magic is, and this performance is the chance to do it.”

“If you go overboard with your magic then you really are going to make a mistake!”

“I won’t.” Merlin’s hands were shaking, “I won’t. I can show Arthur how powerful my magic is. How useful I am-“

“If you perform powerful moves rather than party tricks then the nobles are going to become scared, not impressed!”

“But my magic isn’t for them!” Merlin bit his lip, “It’s for Arthur.”

“Merlin, think.” Gaius said, getting slightly impatient and irritated that Merlin refused to see sense, “Arthur trusted you into performing magic tricks tonight to impress the nobles. He’s counting on you to impress them and put them in a good mood so that he can spend the rest of the night trying to earn their trust.”

“He’s counting on me.” Merlin muttered, sitting on his hands in an attempt to stop them shaking.

“He is. He wants you to use your magic to help him form an alliance with the rest of the kingdoms. If he didn’t trust you, if he truly did think you were useless, then he wouldn’t have asked you to do it.”

“But what about if I do lose my magic one day?” Merlin’s voice had lost it’s anger now, and now instead held the light tremor of vulnerability, “I’m not going to be able to protect him.”

“Merlin, you’re being paranoid.” Gaius sighed, “You’re magic isn’t just going to leave you one day, you were born with it. If you were to ever lose it, you’re just going to have to get it back. But you are powerful Merlin, there’s no doubt about that. And if there is any threat out there that can take your magic away, then it won’t take much effort to take it back. But since that isn’t an immediate threat right now, then it isn’t anything to worry about. You’re getting paranoid over nothing, Merlin.”

“Yeah. Maybe I am.” Merlin sighed, his head in his hands. “I’m sorry, Gaius. I just felt so helpless during those last three days that I-“

“I understand, Merlin.” Gaius said, giving his ward a reassuring pat on the shoulder, “But it’s not going to happen again. Arthur knows you’re powerful, and he considers you a good friend. He doesn’t think you’re useless.”

“Yeah.” Merlin gave a light chuckle, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s alright, my boy.” Gaius smiled, “It’s easier to have doubts and fears than it is to have confidence and dreams, but it takes a whole lot more effort to admit them to the world. You did the right thing in telling me, Merlin.”

“Yeah.” Merlin smiled, “I just… feel like I should be pushing myself. These are nobles. And the first sorcerer to ever perform tricks at a feast as big as this? And only a few years after the ban was lifted? They’re going to be expecting a lot from me, and it’s going to mean bad things for Arthur if I let them down. It’s only right that I put everything I have into this performance.”

“You’re right.” Gaius said, “Performing tricks are going to put the nobles in a happy mood. I think the plan is that once they’ve had a few drinks after the performance, Arthur’s going to start talking about alliances.”

“Right.” Merlin chucked.

“But don’t you think for one second that impressing some nobles is better then looking after own health.” Gaius warned, pointing a finger at him, “If I spend the night if the feast looking after you instead of having fun then I can tell you right now that I won’t be happy.”

“I won’t.” Merlin smiled, “I just… I mean… What if I do make a mistake? What if I let my magic slip and I hurt someone accidentally?”

Gaius rolled his eyes, “Merlin, you’ve never hurt a soul with your magic.”

“But what if I do?” Merlin persisted, “What if I spill over a wine glass or one of the butterflies I’m going to summon pokes someone in the eye, or-“

“Merlin, you’re being silly.”

“I am?”

“Yes.” Gaius laughed, giving Merlin’s shoulder a slight shove, “You’re panicking, and it’s completely understandable, but really, some of these fears of yours are a little ridiculous.”

Merlin gave a few blinks of surprise as he looked down at his own lap, “Oh.”

“You really do overthink things sometimes.”

Merlin looked up, “I do?”

“Butterflies poking people in the eye? I mean, really, Merlin, that’s what you’re scared is going to happen during your performance?”

“I mean… I…” Merlin faltered, starting to see Gaius’ point.

“Merlin, Arthur’s entrusted and most powerful sorcerer, scared of a few butterflies.” Gaius chuckled to himself.

Merlin giggled, starting to see the humorous side, “That’s not what I meant…!”

“I know, I know.” Gaius calmed down, “But you really do have nothing to worry about Merlin. You’ve performed a lot more powerful tricks then the ones that you’ll be performing tonight and, while they did leave you a little exhausted, you didn’t faint after them. You’re going to be fine.”

“Yeah. I guess I am overreacting a little. Merlin admitted, a small smile spreading across his face as, for the first time since Arthur asked him to perform the Winter Yule, he pictured the impressed and wonderous faces of the nobles as he performed tricks for them, “Do you think Arthur will be impressed as well?”

“Oh, he won’t admit it out loud.” Gaius said, to which Merlin chuckled, “But he will Merlin. And he’ll be proud of you as well. Proud that a clumsy farmer’s boy could become as great as the King’s most trusted Court Sorcerer.”

Merlin shifted in his seat, “That’s only a few months away, isn’t it?”

“Off course you would forget when your own ceremony is.” Gaius rolled his eyes, smiling fondly, “But yes, it’s two months away now. But the nobles know what you’re going to become, so they’ll have high expectations of you.”

“Of course they will.” Merlin muttered, “But I can do it! The butterfly trick and every other trick on the list!”

“That’s the spirit! None of this insecure nonsense! And-“ Gaius faltered as he saw the look on Merlin’s face, “Oh no. I know that luck. What’s going on in that head of yours.”

“I’m thinking.”

“And that’s exactly what the problem is. What are you thinking Merlin?” Gaius said, feeling just as scared as he sounded.

Nodding slowly to himself, Merlin answered, “Aithusa.”

Gaius did a double-take, “Aithusa?”

“Yeah! I can incorporate her into my act!”

Gaius’ answer was immediate, “No.”

“Oh, come on, Gaius!” Merlin pleaded, “A baby dragon? A strange and intriguing new creature who is also the last of her kind while also being a cute little baby! The nobles will completely gush over her!”

“Then Aithusa will proceed to chew on their elaborate hairstyles as they do so.” Gaius deadpanned.

So?” Merlin laughed at the image, “Aithusa’s a baby, she’s not going to be able to make any mistakes in their eyes! Besides, if they spend half the night coddling Aithusa, then they’ll be in the constant good mood that Arthur needs in order for him to get a peace treaty out of them.”

“I-“ Gaius paused, blinking a few times, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, Merlin, but I think you may actually have a point.”

“Exactly!” Merlin cheered, “Incorporate Aithusa into my act and we might just pull this off.”

As Gaius and Merlin talked about the changes they were going to make to the act, Aithusa perched herself on the table and tilted her head curiously, excited as to what they were talking about.


	24. 24th December

With his breakfast in hand, Arthur walked over to the window and watched the chaos below, chewing his bread slowly. The clutter of Merlin waling around the room and cleaning echoed in the background, but it eventually stopped as Merlin walked over to join him.

“Wow.” Merlin said as soon as he laid eyes on the chaotic market scene below, “Are those…”

“It would appear so.” Arthur said, not entirely over the sight himself. Since he and Merlin had been gone for a few days, neither had seen the chaos that the market had been yet, “It seems they’re still buying gifts for everyone.”

Merlin looked at him, “Everyone?”

“Yes. I talked to Gwen yesterday and apparently people have stopped buying gifts solely for the children and have started buying gifts for their friends and partners as well.”

“Huh.” Merlin returned his gaze to the window, looking at the crowd for a few seconds more. After a few seconds, his mouth opened slightly with a question, but he quickly shut it. He already knew what the answer was going to be. And, wether Arthur said yes or no, Merlin was going to get him one anyway. However, Arthur had heard the gasp, and turned to him suspiciously.

“What is it, Merlin?”

“Nothing.”

“It didn’t sound like nothing.”

“I… just had an idea, that’s all.”

“Really? Let’s hear it then.”

Merlin’s eyes averted Arthur’s as he struggled for an answer, “Why should I tell you?”

“Because if it’s you’re idea then it’s going to be a bad one, and I want it to have my seal of approval before anyone gets hurt.”

“It’s not a bad idea.”

“I doubt that immensely.”

“But…” Merlin sighed as Arthur leant against the wall, a common sign that this was a matter that he wasn’t going to let go. Instead, Merlin walked away and grabbed the wash rag.

“What are you doing?” Arthur asked as Merlin retreated.

Merlin turned to him, “My job?”

“You mean you’re doing chores?” Arthur asked, “Now?”

“Yes.”

“Answer my question first!”

“No.”

“Merlin!” Arthur followed Merlin to the table, which Merlin was now starting to wipe clean, “Why don’t you use magic to do that?”

“Because that’ll be incredibly lazy?” Merlin said, revelling in the frustrated tone of Arthur’s voice.

“Will you stop cleaning!” Arthur scolded as he snatched the rag from Merlin’s hand.

“You want me to not do my job?” Merlin asked, unable to hide the smirk from his face.

“Yes! I mean no! I mean… just answer my question.”

“What was the question?”

Arthur rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what Merlin was doing and having no idea on how to stop it, “What was the idea that you just had?”

Merlin shook his head, “Not telling you.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to.”

“Really?” Arthur pouted and started wrapping his arms around Merlin’s waist, knowing from years of experience what it did to Merlin, “Not even a hint?”

“Nope.”

Arthur nosed at his neck, “Why not?”

“Because you’ll say no.” Merlin replied, wrapping his arms around Arthur’s shoulders.

“What makes you say that?”

“Because I know you too well.”

Arthur bit at his neck, starting at the shoulder and going along the jawline, “If you know me to well, then why are you doing it?”

“Because I want to.”

“And you’re not going to tell me what it is?”

Merlin hesitated, leaning into the kiss that Arthur had left on his mouth, “No.”

“And you’re absolutely sure it’s not going to end up as a disaster?”

“Yes.” Merlin nodded, unwrapping his arms and giving Arthur’s hand a squeeze for reassurance.

Arthur stared into Merlin’s eyes for clarity, but then relented, “Okay.” He eventually said, “But you’re still lying to me. So that means more chores.”

Merlin rolled his eyes, but didn’t complain.

“And no magic.”

Merlin bit his lip, but sighed and kept his mouth shut, if all to stay on Arthur’s good side.

“But you can do that later. For now, you’re dismissed, I need to look over some of the replies to the invitations to make sure there aren’t any conditions that I’m not aware of.”

Merlin nodded and, after watching Arthur walk over to his desk, he turned around and left the room, immediately speeding up the pace and heading towards the market.

O=II=========>

Morgana gave a small gasp of surprise as a needle pricked her finger. She gave a little sigh as the needle drew blood and she put her finger to her mouth, examining her needlework as she did do.

Despite the constant injuries that she was doing to herself, she seemed to be doing okay. The sewing looked rather like how Gwen’s usual work looked and the dress didn’t look half bad. She just needed to finish the entire thing before the Winter Yule feast, and she was making very slow progress.

In order to try and get as much work on the dress done as she could, she had asked Gwen to take a day off for today, to get her own shopping done for this new tradition that Arthur and Merlin had made up. In her own opinion, she thought that the people were overreacting far to much, but she could see how gifts for their children were able to get them excited. While she wasn’t exactly looking to celebrate this new tradition of Arthur’s, she still wanted to give a gift to someone she dearly loved.

As she thread the needle through a second time, Morgana’s eye caught the white rose that Gwen had given her on the first day of the month. While she now constantly wore the flower every time she wore the green dress, she also found herself putting it out on display whenever she was working on the dress. Not only did it calm her and reassure her when her work wasn’t going particularly well, but it also immediately reminded her of Gwen and filled Morgana’s thoughts with her smile, reminding her of the reason why she had wanted to make Gwen this dress in the first place.

A sudden knock at the door made her jump, the needle very narrowly missing her finger for the nth time.

“Who is it?” Morgana asked, carefully placing the dress on the table. If it was Gwen, she was going to have to rush to hide it, but for now…

“It’s Arthur.” Arthur answered on the other side of the door, “Can I come in?”

With a sigh of relief, Morgana sat back down and got back to work, “Come in.”

As soon as she had said it, the door swung open and Arthur walked in. When he laid his eyes on the dress, a soft smile spread across his face as he took a seat.

“You’re still working on it?” Arthur asked as he lowered himself.

“I am.” Morgana answered, “But you can’t be here to talk dresses. Did you come here to complain about the visiting nobles again?”

Arthur sat up, “I’m not complaining-“

“You were just in here yesterday whining about King Olaf asking for extra chicken wings.”

“Yes, well, if he wants some extra chicken wings then why can’t he bring his own chickens to kill and prepare instead of leaving us to take food away from our peasants and-“

He stopped when Morgana raised an eyebrow at him, “Yes, fine, I’m here to complain.”

Morgana chuckled as she thread a needle through a hole, “Don’t be ashamed to admit it. As much as it annoys me, it’s best for you to get your frustrations out. It’s better for everyone that way.” She then paused, her needle hovering where she was about to thread it through again, “I sound like Gaius.”

Arthur laughed a little and shook his head, but made himself comfortable as he started to talk, “I just read through the conditions that some of the royals made in their replies to their invitations.”

“Oh, here we go.”

“King Olaf now wants some extra cow to go with his extra chicken.”

“Oh boy.”

“Princess Vivian wants the cake to be an entire layer taller than it already is.”

“Hopefully it’ll fall on her.”

“And Queen Anis wants a seat with the best view to Merlin’s performance.”

“She always did take a liking to the boy after all that juggling.”

Arthur sighed as the conditions weighed his shoulders down, “Why isn’t anyone ever happy with what they’ve got.”

“They’re nobles.” Morgana explained patiently as she tightened the string she had already threaded through, “They’re used to a little something… more.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“You know I am.” Morgana smirked, “You were exactly the same once.”

Arthur scowled at her, “I was not.”

“You were to. You were ordering people about and everything.”

“Because that’s my job?”

“Well, yes, but you were being a big prat about it. You improved, thank the gods.”

“Because of my humble nature and my modesty.” Arthur joked, knowing the real reason why and being to scared to say it.

Morgana scoffed rolled her eyes, “Don’t flatter yourself. You changed because of Merlin.”

A silence settled in the room as Arthur smiled to himself, “Yes I did, didn’t I?”

Morgana didn’t answer the question. She just returned back to her sewing, knowing all to well that the reason Arthur was quiet was because he was reliving all of his moments with Merlin. She had done that far to many times with Gwen to know how lovesick the two of them were. 

Suddenly, her needle paused and hovered in mid-air when a thought occurred to her. Did Gwen and Merlin ever think of them like this? Just suddenly sink into a silence and smile over all the memories they had of the person they loved? As Arthur sat in silence, smiling stupidly, Morgana sat and stared, wondering if Gwen felt the same way about her.

“In fact.” Arthur’s sudden need to speak up brought her out of her thoughts, “I brought something here that I need your opinion on. Do you mind?”

“Mind?” Morgana chuckled, “Arthur, I give my opinion on everything, I don’t need to be asked.”

“True.” Arthur laughed with her. Then, hesitating a little, he eventually persuaded himself to ease something purple out of his pocket.

“There.” Arthur said as he handed the piece of cloth over to Morgana, “What do you think?”

Eyeing Arthur suspiciously, Morgana accepted the piece of cloth and inspected it, giving a small gasp when she finally realised what it was.

There, lying delicately in her hands, was a purple neckerchief made of the finest material money could buy. Morgana gave a short laugh if surprise as she held the neckerchief in her hands.

“For Merlin?” Morgana asked, to which Arthur blushed and nodded, “I didn’t think you had this kind of generosity in you, Arthur.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Arthur snapped in a half-arsed attempt to win back some of his dignity, “When Merlin brought forward the idea of giving children gifts to teach them that sorcerers aren’t that bad, it occurred to me that Merlin is prepared to do so much for others, but he doesn’t do a single thing for himself.”

“So you decided to do this for him?” Morgana smirked, trying to imagine Merlin’s face when he received the gift.

“Yes.” Arthur said, trying to fight down the blush that was rapidly making his face turn red, “But he doesn’t know about it.”

Morgana looked up at him, “And why’s that?”

“Because if Merlin knew I was getting a gift for him, he’d just say no, so I’m doing it in secret.”

Morgana pursed her lips for a second, and then laughed. Earlier this morning, Merlin had come into her room asking for gift suggestions for Arthur, giving her the very same reason as to why she couldn’t tell Arthur about the gift that Merlin had planned for him.

“What?” Arthur asked, his insecurities shining through, “What is it? Is the gift bad?”

“No, Arthur, it’s perfect.” Morgana smiled, giving the gift back to him, “I’m sure Merlin will love it.

“Let’s hope.” Arthur murmured under his breath, “Every time I’ve tried to do something for him in the past, like breakfast in bed or not throw that many things at him or doing his chores for him-“

“You’ve tried to do his chores for him?”

“Shut up. Every single time I’ve tried to do something nice it’s always backfired horrendously. I just hope that it doesn’t go wrong this time.”

“It won’t, Arthur.” Morgana smiled, knowing how worried Arthur could get about things like this, “Merlin’s going to love it.”

“But you know how Merlin gets when you try to do something for him. He always refuses and says he has to do something for Gaius, or-“

“It’s not going to be like that this time.” Morgana tried to reassure him, “You have no idea how much Merlin admires you.”

“Everyone admires me.”

“No, everyone looks ups to you because you’re the prince and they have to. Merlin admires you because you’re brave and always willing to put your life on the line for others.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow, “Was that a compliment?”

“These are Merlin’s words, not mine.”

“But they’re coming out of your mouth.”

“Be quiet. Now, want to know how you can improve your gift.”

Arthur’s eyes widened as he leant forward slightly, “How?”

Morgana grinned, waving the golden thread that she had purchased at the mall a few days ago.

O=II==========>

“Ow.”

“You’re doing it wrong.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are, now shut up and let me do it.”

“No! You focus on Gwen’s dress, I need to do this-“

“What kind of pattern is that? It’s all over the place.”

“Merlin’s an idiot, he won’t notice-“

“Yes he will, I’ll tell him.”

“No, you won’t!”

“Try me!”

Several hours had passed and the guards outside Morgana’s chambers had cast more that one dubious glances at each other at the constant arguing that had been taking place ever since the King had entered. There were constant mentions of Merlin and Gwen, which wasn’t a surprise to either of the guards since it was common knowledge throughout the entirety of Camelot that the two were head over heels in love with their respective servants. What they were doing in Morgana’s chambers, however, the guards would never know.

Arthur groaned as he looked at the needle in his arm, new appreciation for Gwen coursing through his system as he looked at his own clumsy handwork.

“How Gwen does this, I’ll never know.”

“Well, she’s not as lazy as you, is she?”

“You’re one to talk! What do you do all day?”

“None of your business!”

“Either way, I bet Gwen is a lot more efficient as a servant than Merlin is. Can we swap?”

“In your dreams!”

Arthur laughed at the sudden reaction he very rarely got out of Morgana, but gradually grew silent as he realised what it implied, “You really do care about her, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.” Morgana answered stiffly, focusing entirely on her needlework, “When you and father turned their backs on me as soon as he confessed that I had magic, Gwen and Merlin were the only ones there to comfort me. You eventually saw sense, and I owe you the world for that, but Gwen and Merlin… well, Merlin was already taken, but Gwen had breasts, so she was always going to win.”

Arthur laughed at the sudden crude humour, but grew silent when he remembered what else she had mentioned, “I’m sorry for back then.”

Morgana rolled her eyes, “Oh, stop-“

“No, I’m serious. I know I’ve apologised thousands of times, but I’m never going to feel like it’s enough.”

“You didn’t know any better, Arthur. Father had raised you to his way of thinking.”

“It doesn’t change anything. I still treated you and Merlin horribly when I found out about your magic.”

Morgana sighed, “It doesn’t matter. Times are different now. You’re different now. I’ve accepted your apologies thousands of times, Arthur, and Merlin has done the same.”

“I still feel like-“

“Enough, Arthur.” Morgana said with the finality in her tone that always managed to get Arthur to shut up, “Don’t you think it’s up to the victim to decide wether or not you’ve apologised enough?”

Arthur shrugged, at a loss for words, “I-“

“And both me and Merlin have said that you apologise way to much. So shut up and carry on with threading that neckerchief. Quickly, before Merlin figures out you’ve disappeared.”

“I don’t think he’ll notice.” Arthur leapt at the chance to change the subject, struggling with his needle as he imagined Merlin doing his chores in his chambers, “Have you noticed how unobservant he is? He’s gone for hours doing chores before realising that I haven’t been there in a while.”

Morgana smirked, “Which means that Merlin is perfectly capable by himself. Remind me again how long you’ve lasted without Merlin by your side?”

Arthur rolled his eyes, “Shut up…”

“Because I seem to recall 20 minutes.”

“You’ve counted.”

“Every single feast you’re always looking over your shoulder to make sure Merlin’s still there.”

“To make sure he doesn’t wonder off-“

“And every time he’s talking to someone you interrupt them and drag him off somewhere.”

“So that they don’t take advantage of him, you know how stupid he is.”

Morgana chuckled, “Stop trying to defend yourself, it’s adorable.” When she looked at her sewing, she was pleasantly surprised to find that she had almost done, and not that bad a job of it, if she did say so herself. The lines were more or less straight, the sewing was evenly spaced and she hadn’t even pricked herself that many times. When she looked over at Arthur, however, she giggled at the scruffy sewing working and the inconsistency of the lines. Despite the evidence of inexperience that was displayed on the neckerchief, Morgana smiled, certain that Merlin was probably going to love it all the more because Arthur took the time to do it himself.

Choosing not to offer to help and letting Arthur create his own gift for Merlin, the two sat in a peaceful silence as Morgana finished her dress with a small smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE GUYS!!!


	25. 25th December

For most people, winter is a peculiar time of year. The air is nippy and cold, the weather is harsh and unforgiving and there is hardly any work to be done as no crops could grow in the stiff, frozen soil. Yet, despite all this, the people that were walking around, both peasant and noble, were all going about their day with smiles on their faces. Despite the red in their cheeks, despite their thick itchy clothes and despite slippy, frosty ground that was actually quite dangerous to walk on, the hum of excitement in the air was unmistakeable, as people chatted merrily to their neighbours and to the stall owners in the market, all with one topic of conversation on their tongues.

It was still the bitter beginnings of the morning, but the people of Camelot were already up and going about their daily routine. The merry chatter of the market ambled its way into the air, the atmosphere so warm and cheerful that the people hadn’t noticed the cold, sharp wind blowing through.

The castle of Camelot was no different, and in every corridor there were at least two servants chatting to each other, talking about the preparation for the bountiful feast at the end of the month. However, even something as stressful as a preparing a feast wasn’t enough to bring a servant’s mood down, and they could be seen striding down the hallways with smiles on their faces as they attended to their master.

That is, most of the servants. One of them, as usual, had chosen to lie in and deal with the repercussions later. Of course, after managing to sneak in a half-hour lie in, later meant now.

“Merlin!” Came Gaius’ call from the physician’s chambers, “Get out of bed!”

The servant in question groaned, the dim sunlight sneaking under his eyelids. He could hear Gaius cluttering around the room attached to his, but didn’t do anything to get up. Why should he? It was freezing. If Arthur wanted breakfast, he could go get it himself, the stuck-up prat. Content with his resolve, Merlin snuggled back down into his sheets.

He had spent another minute in blissful silence when remembered. There was a brief image of the present that was lying in wait under his bed before he shot up.

Setting Aithusa tumbling off the bed in a squawk of surprise, Merlin snatched the gift that he had spent so much time on and raced out of the room.

“Gaius!” Merlin called as he scooped up his porridge, only to pause when he burned his tongue, “Do you know what day it is?”

Gaius paused, his own spoon hovering on the way to his mouth, “Uh… no?”

“Remember what I told you?” Merlin asked, “Today would be the day that the kids in Camelot would be told that a good-hearted sorcerer named Santa would be giving them all gifts.”

“I remember!” Gaius recalled, nodding, “To help children believe that sorcerers aren’t the evil corruption that Uther made them out to be?”

“Exactly!” Merlin said as he inhaled his porridge. Then, as he snatched up his gift, “Well, I’ve got to go give this to Arthur. Bye!”

With that, he raced out of the room, leaving Gaius to wonder just what had gotten into his ward.

O=II==========>

“Good morning!” Merlin burst into Arthur’s chambers. Arthur, who had happened to be asleep at the time, shot up in bed gasping.

“You’re early.” Arthur mumbled automatically, rubbing his eyes.

“I’m five minutes late.”

“So, in your case, early.” Arthur yawned.

“Come on, get up!” Merlin cheered, yanking open the curtains. Arthur made a sound of annoyance, covered his eyes and ducked back under the covers, “Arthur, it’s the 25th!”

“The day with the presents, got it.”

“Yes, but I want to see how the children are!”

“I don’t think they’ve even opened the presents yet Merlin.”

“It’s midmorning. I’m pretty sure they have.”

Merlin sighed, “Get up.”

“No.”

When Arthur responded with a stubborn silence, Merlin smirked when he saw the plant that was hanging above the doorway. In the space of a few small seconds, Merlin had crossed the room, picked it up and was back standing over Arthur.

“Not even for a kiss?” Merlin asked, brushing the mistletoe in front of Arthur’s nose. Sighing, Arthur opened his eyes to see Merlin was now using magic to hover the mistletoe over his head. Grunting, Arthur pulled back the covers and sat up.

“Fine.” He said as he clambered out of bed, “But I’m doing this for the kiss. Not because of the presents.”

“Sure.” Merlin smirked as he accepted the kiss that Arthur gave him. After a few seconds they parted, and Merlin used his magic to guide the mistletoe back to the door.

“Breakfast.” He said pointing to the tray that he had settled down earlier.

“I can see that, Merlin.” Arthur grumbled as he sat down in his seat. Merlin paused as a thought occurred to him, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“What’s got you in such a bad mood?” Merlin asked, his eyes glowing gold as his magic started doing his chores for him. Among the confusion, his magic also took the gift from Merlin’s hand and guided under the bed for when Arthur was in a better mood.

“I’m not in a bad mood.” Arthur muttered, fumbling with his breakfast.

“You sound like it.”

“I’m not.”

“You look like it.”

“I said I’m not, Merlin.”

“Well, I think you are.” He said in a tone he knew annoyed Arthur to no end, “So, care to tell me what the matter is?”

“It’s none of your business, Merlin.” Arthur said around his bacon. When Merlin had his back to him, Arthur reached into his breech pocket and fumbled around with the purple neckerchief that was hiding there. The plan was that as soon as Arthur had woken up, he would give the gift to Merlin before he had the chance to chicken out. Now it seemed like the window of opportunity was gone. What if he didn’t like it? It’s not like they had agreed on gifts. It would probably be easier if the neckerchief stayed in his pocket.

Merlin looked at him. They had been together for so long now that it was obvious something was up with him. Merlin frowned, sighing, “Arthur, if something’s wrong, you would tell me, wouldn’t you?”

Arthur bit his lip, “You know I would.”

“And you also told me no more lying, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, don’t you think that rule should apply to both of us?”

Arthur stiffened, the hand that was in his pocket tightening around the neckerchief.

“Tell me what’s wrong, Arthur.”

Pursing his lips and sitting up straight in his chair, Arthur faced Merlin, “Please don’t laugh.”

“Laugh? Why would I laugh?” Merlin asked, taking a seat and sitting down on the opposite end of the table.

Hesitating, Arthur finally managed, “I got you a gift.”

Merlin stared at him in surprise. Taking the silence as a bad sign, Arthur continued, “I know we didn’t really talk about it or anything, but I just wanted to tell you how good a servant you are and how important you are to me so I got you this gift.”

Then, in usual Arthur fashion, he got the neckerchief out of his pocket and dumped it onto the table. Merlin straightened it out and looked at it, bewilderment all over his face. Arthur squirmed in his seat, not at all liking the fact that Merlin hadn’t said anything for an entire minute.

“W-well?” Arthur asked, “How is it?”

The neckerchief was all crumpled and the lining was all wrinkled and the thread is all a bit wonky and there were a few stray strings coming out of it and oh gods he should have paid more attention to what he was doing when he was sewing stupid stupid stupid-

“Arthur.” Merlin whispered, “I love it.”

Arthur watched with bated breath as Merlin stretched the neckerchief out before him, his thumb going over ever single minute detail before taking off his current red neckerchief and replacing it. Looking down on it, Merlin laughed.

“Arthur, I’m serious.” Merlin beamed, “It’s beautiful.”

Arthur blinked in surprise, not entirely sure what to say to the face that held so much happiness.

“I’m glad you like it.” He eventually managed to say, overcome with the sudden urge to kiss him.

“Wait!” Merlin interrupted when he saw Arthur leaning forward, “I got you a gift as well.”

“Seriously?” Arthur laughed, “We both got each other gifts?”

“Yeah?” Merlin joined in with his laughter as his present came out from under the bed and into his hand, “Guess it was something that we didn’t have to agree on after all.”  
Then, he placed the small, carefully wrapped box onto the table. The wrapping paper was a silver that Morgana had recommended to him, tied off with a golden ribbon that had taken Merlin an hour to tie properly, the ends being slightly chewed since Aithusa initially thought it was a new toy.

“Fit for a king.” Merlin chuckled, now feeling just as awkward as Arthur had done a minute before.

Amazed that someone could put in this much thought for him, Arthur took the gift and fell in love with the wrapping paper alone, never wanting this moment to end.

“Well?” Merlin breathed, watching Arthur’s every move.

Shooting Merlin a guilty smile, Arthur carefully undid the ribbon and removed the wrapping paper, not even wanting to rip it up that much.

Inside was a red box. Arthur’s hand hovered over the latch, too scared to open it. When was the last time someone had given him a gift? His father had given him his first training sword when he was twelve, and there were a bunch of gifts from nobles, but there was no real love and thought put into them…

“Arthur.” Merlin chuckled slightly in a poor attempt to ease the tension, “The present?”

“Right, sorry.” Arthur shot him yet another guilty smile before sucking in his breath and opening the box in one swift movement.

Inside was a golden ring. Engraved was a dragon that coiled around it, the dragon’s head chewing on his own tail. Even now, just staring at it, Arthur could feel the magic radiating off it in waves, igniting the gold and making it gleam in the morning sun. Arthur felt enchanted just by looking at it.

“It’s not that special, it’s just a golden ring.” Merlin started rambling in response to Arthur’s silence, “I got it really cheap in the market just yesterday. Second-hand and what-not. Sorry, but it was all I could afford. I just… I used magic on it. I used an engraving spell for the dragon. I thought you might like it because… dragons. I have a dragon. There’s a… a, um… dragon in your name, so I, uh…”

“It’s beautiful.” Arthur smiled, “Merlin, honestly, I don’t know what to say.”

“Then kiss me?” Merlin asked hopefully, eyes shining with all the secrets in the word in the light that emitted from the ring.

“Always.” With the ring on his finger in one swift movement, Arthur leant over the table and kissed Merlin for all he was worth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas guys! This one's not as long today since it's Christmas and all, but I hope you all have an amazing day!


	26. 26th December

After several minutes of debating with himself, Arthur eventually managed to open his eyes against the sunlight that was trying to prise itself under his eyelids. Squinting slightly, Arthur grunted and turned over to his back, raising his arm to try and protect his eyes from the blinding rays of the sun. Merlin, of course, had forgotten to shut the curtains last night in his eagerness to follow through on his filthy promise, and so Arthur had to deal with the consequences. With a small grunt, Arthur made to sit up, and frowned when he realised he couldn’t.

Looking over to his left, Arthur found the sleeping form of Merlin using Arthur’s arm as a pillow, which was why Arthur couldn’t get up. When Arthur tried tugging a few times, Merlin moaned slightly, but didn’t relent, meaning Arthur was stuck.

“Merlin.” Arthur sighed, tugging gently with his arm.

Nothing. As soon as they had finished with each other last night, Merlin had been dead to the world and must have been that way ever since.

Arthur sighed, “Merlin.”

When he got nothing as a response, Arthur turned on his side and slapped his servant a few times on the cheek. Merlin grumbled a few times, his eyes even twitching a little, but apart from that he remained unresponsive.

Arthur rolled his eyes and allowed himself to flop his head back onto the pillow. Five more days until the Winter Yule feast and the responses to the invitations had only just been sent out. According to the cook, the feast still needed a few more dishes to appease the nobles and Morgana was complaining that she still couldn’t find the right dress to wear. 

All these responsibilities and activity that was going around the castle, and here Arthur was, stuck in bed with an idiot sleeping on his arm.

Speaking off, he could feel pins and needles creeping up it now. If he didn’t get a move on soon, Arthur’s arm would be just as dead to the world as Merlin.

Sighing in frustration, Arthur got back onto his side again and gave Merlin a little shove, “Merlin, wake up!”

Merlin moaned again, but instead found Arthur’s chest, sighed, and started making himself comfortable. In any other situation, Arthur would have been delighted to go to sleep with Merlin in his arms, but unfortunately there was work to do.

“Merlin!” Arthur shouted, slapping him.

As the slap resonated around the room, Merlin’s eyes snapped open and he shot up in bed, one hand touching his cheek and attempting to cool the sting that was now emanating from it.

“Ow!” Merlin shook his head, trying to wake himself up, “What was that for?”

“That was because my idiot servant refused to get off my arm!” Arthur said.

“Well, why didn’t you wake me up like a normal person?” Merlin asked, “You could have just shaken me!”

“I tried, it didn’t work!” Arthur responded as he sat up and started tugging on his breeches, “Had to slap you.”

Arthur could hear Merlin sighing in annoyance behind him, but he didn’t bother to turn around and try and explain himself. Arthur had learnt that whenever he tried to do that things usually went wrong. Instead, he stood up, tugged his shirt on and went over to his desk, immediately sitting down and making a start on his paperwork. Merlin, after pulling his own clothes on, watched Arthur cautiously.

“Do you… want me to get you any breakfast?” Merlin asked, fiddling with his hands. With is mistake and Arthur in a bad mood because of it, he didn’t quite know how to act.

“Yes, Merlin. I would enjoy it if you actually learnt to do your job.” Arthur gritted through his teeth, “Would you mind doing so a bit more quietly?”

Merlin opened his mouth to reply, but upon seeing Arthur’s eyebrow twitch in annoyance he immediately thought better of it. Instead, he turned out of the room and went to go get the breakfast.

When he realised that Merlin had forgotten to shut the door behind him, Arthur sighed, but didn’t bother with getting up and closing it. Instead, he read the passage that he had been stuck on for the past five minutes, searching for any loopholes or inaccuracies. When he was certain that there were none, he moved on with the next, the empty space where he could sign and have a little weight added off his shoulders teasing him all the way.

When he had finally read the piece of parchment, he moved it over to his complete file and spent a moment examining the work he had yet to do. When he did, he spotted Merlin’s   
purple neckerchief in the corner of his eye. When they had gotten ready for bed the precious night, Merlin had taken the time to place the cloth on the bedside and then proceeded to the toss the rest of his clothes of.

Whilst Arthur stared at it, he became aware of the ring around his finger, and how he had worn it for the entirety of the night. The longer he stared at the neckerchief and how besotted Merlin had looked while putting it on, the more Arthur could feel the anger ebbing away from his body. Why was he mad in the first place? Because Merlin wanted to sleep in? Arthur frowned, realising what an ass he’d been. As guilt seeped through, his temper subsided and Arthur spent the next few minutes caressing the ring on his finger, remembering fondly how nervous Merlin had looked when giving him the box.

When Merlin finally came back, breakfast in hand, he avoided eye contact when Arthur looked at him. Marching up to the desk, he placed the breakfast tray down and retreated, standing feet apart and hands behind his back in such a subservient position that it made Arthur feel even more guilty for his idiot temper.

“Merlin.” Arthur tried, struggling to voice the apology out loud. However, the lamenting tone of his voice was enough to make Merlin look up in an expectant gaze.

Swallowing down his nerves, Arthur tried again, “I shouldn’t have shouted.”

Merlin didn’t say anything. He knew that Arthur wasn’t done.

“And… I shouldn’t have slapped you to get you to wake up.”

After he had spoken, Arthur looked into Merlin’s eyes, “I’m sorry.”

Merlin sighed, nodding to himself, “There wasn’t really a reason for you to get so worked up like that.”

“I know.”

“And you really could have just been a little more patient.”

“I know.”

Merlin chuckled, “I really can be a prat sometimes.”

“I know I can.” Arthur smiled back, “And it’s your job to point it out sometimes.”

“Best part of the job, really.”

Smiling widely now, Arthur turned in his chair and jerked his head, “Come here.”

Merlin, with a few cautious steps at first, slowly made his way over to Arthur placed a hand on his back, Merlin got the message and sat down in his lap, squirming slightly and making himself comfortable.

“When you gave me that ring yesterday, you promised me that there would be no more lies and no more secrets between us.” Arthur said, “And I don’t think I’ve been holding my end of the bargain as well as I should have.”

Merlin, who was resting his head on Arthur’s shoulder, looked up at him, “Why’s that?” He asked.

“I’ve been secretive with my feelings.” Arthur admitted, curling his arms around Merlin’s waist and pulling him closer.

“That’s just who you are.” Merlin said, “Your father raised you to keep you emotions hidden, and that’s perfectly fine as long as you confide them to someone you trust.”

“And I do.” Arthur admitted as he started stroking Merlin’s hair, “Just not all of them.”

Merlin lifted his head from Arthur’s shoulder and placed a hand on Arthur’s chest to study himself, “Not all of them? What do you mean?”

“I haven’t really told you how I feel about you.” Arthur managed after a few seconds of struggling.

Merlin stared at him, shaking his head in confusion. Seeing that Arthur wasn’t done though, he kept his thoughts to himself.

“I just feel…” Arthur’s voice gave out slightly, so he swallowed and tried again, “I just feel like I haven’t been sharing enough with you. How grateful I am towards you. How much I admire you. How much I care for you. Not to mention all the times you’ve saved my life with your magic. I just… I don’t feel like I tell you that enough. And whenever I do try to tell you how much you mean to me, I get all… nervous and embarrassed, unable to tell you the extent of my feelings. And for that I apologise.”

Merlin stared at him, his mouth open, as if he had been about to day something and then forgotten what it was immediately. Instead, he just sat there, staring, unsure of what to say.

After a few seconds of silence, Merlin hugged him and whispered, “You don’t have to let me know through words how much you care for me. Your actions make it obvious, Arthur. Every time I wake up with you by my side, every time you risk your own life to save mine. It’s obvious in everything you do Arthur, there’s no need to tell me, I already know.”

Arthur smiled and hugged Merlin, pulling him in tighter when Merlin whispered “I love you in his ear.”

Paperwork forgotten, the two of them sat in content silence, revelling in the warmth that the other gave off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Hope you all had a pleasant Christmas. Just wanted to let you know that here on out my target is only going to be 1500+ words because I want to spend a little more time with my family from here up until the New Year. Apart from that, I hope you enjoyed reading! :)


	27. 27th December

“Good morning, Morgana.”

Morgana gave a small grunt as she felt the sunlight against her eyelids. Squinting a little, she eventually managed to open her eyes and sit up in bed.

“What would you like to eat?” Came Gwen’s calm voice as Morgana’s vision slowly came back to her.

“Bread and ham will do, thank you, Gwen.” Morgana smiled at her. Returning the smile, Gwen did a small curtsy and went off to retrieve the breakfast. As she did so, however, Morgana snapped awake when she spotted something.

Peaking from the two doors of her wardrobe was a trailing piece of purple cloth. If Gwen opened those doors and saw the dress, then the surprise would be spoilt.

Cursing to herself, Morgana crawled out of bed and made her way over to the wardrobe. After Gwen had turned her in last night, she had sat back up and had worked on the dress late into the night until she was so exhausted that she could barely keep her eyes open. She must have been so exhausted that it hadn’t occurred to her that Gwen would be opening the wardrobe in the morning.

“Morgana?” Gwen’s voice from the other side of the room made her stop in her tracks, “Would you like some cheese to go with it?”

“Um… yes!” Morgana decided. Anything to stall Gwen, “Some cheese would be wonderful.”

“Okay, but you know what the Duke of Mercia would say…” Morgana could hear the smirk in Gwen’s voice at the mention of their inside joke.

“Well, he can kiss my ass! I’m old enough to choose my own dietary options.” Morgana said in a genuine sneer, remembering the night a few months ago were her eating habits had been criticised by the Duke and Gwen and herself had mocked him for hours after the feast. The joke was still going strong, and Morgana was glad to spit on his name every opportunity she got.

“All right, Morgana, I’ll add some cheese.” Morgana heard Gwen say from the other room, and Morgana continued when she heard the footsteps receding. Yanking the door open, she grabbed the nearly-complete dress and looked around the room for somewhere to stash it. Since It was part of Gwen’s chores to inspect and clean the room thoroughly, there were very few places Morgana could hide it without it being spotted by Gwen.

Looking under the bed, Morgana saw how clean it was and made a split decision.

“Here’s your breakfast!” Gwen called as she walked into the room. Then, when she saw Morgana on her knees beside the bed, “Morgana!”

“Yes?” Morgana said, scrambling up from the floor and frantically dusting her knees.

“What are you doing on the floor?” Gwen asked, walking forward and placing the breakfast on the desk.

“I was… just checking to see if under the bed needed cleaning.” Morgana claimed, giving her maid a hesitant smile, “It’s been a while since you’ve done it and all…”

“Oh, really?” Gwen asked. When she made to bend down herself, Morgana hastily got in the way, “Do you want me to clean it again…?”

“No, no, not now Gwen.” Morgana gave one of her most charming smiles, the one that she knew made Gwen blush, “Perhaps one day after the feast? When you’re not so busy with all your other work.”

“Yes.” Gwen said, “Yes, I’ll do that.”

The two had had their hands full recently. With the Winter Yule upon them, Gwen had her hands full in the kitchen and with Morgana, since they always seemed to be short of hands at this time of year. Since Morgana knew that Gwen was busy with other things, she had tried to make an attempt to not ask Gwen of much while she had been busy, and the maid was grateful for it. Besides, Morgana had taken advantage of Gwen having her hands full by using all of her free time working on Gwen’s dress. Arthur had visited her yesterday and had gushed over how much Merlin had loved his gift and how he had been “rewarded” afterwards. Arthur also wouldn’t shut up about his own gift, a beautiful ring that Merlin had engraved himself. Whenever Morgana imagined Gwen’s reaction to her dress, the blush, the constant stuttering and the besotted look in her eyes, Morgana couldn’t help but blush. The very thought made her work on the dress even faster, which would often make her slip up and have to do the entire thing all over again.

“Would you care to sit down?” Morgana gestured to the seat next to her desk. Gwen looked at it with a sort of longing that had Morgana’s heart leaping, but then Gwen blinked in remembrance and turned back to Morgana.

“I would love to, but I should probably get back to my duties.” Gwen stepped back and hurriedly performed a curtsy before rushing across the room to grab a wash rag, “Enjoy your meal!” She called hastily over her shoulder.

Morgana sighed to herself before silently tucking into her meal, her eyes glued under the bed to make sure that none of the corners’ of the dress peeked out from under it. When she could see nothing of the sort, she allowed her shoulders to relax as she bit into the bread and cheese. 

“What would you like to do today my lady?” Morgana was snapped out of her thoughts of Gwen by the call from the other side of the room. Morgana chewed thoughtfully and swallowed, her eyebrows scrunched together.

“I’m not sure.” Morgana muttered to herself. A thought of riding through the woods with Gwen came to mind, and her mouth opened in her eagerness to suggest it to Gwen. She paused though when she reminded herself of Gwen’s work, and she closed her mouth with a sigh. What to do…?

“I suppose I could go and check on Merlin.” Morgana talked to herself, “See how he’s doing with his set list.”

“You mean for the Winter Yule?” Gwen asked as she swept the surface of the desk, “I haven’t heard much about that. Is Merlin still offering to do it?”

“He is.” Morgana confirmed, “He’s got an entire set list and performance choreographed. He just needs to perform it now.”

“Wow.” Gwen chuckled to herself, “I always thought that if Merlin was going to perform at a feast, it would be Arthur making him do it as a Jester.”

“Yes.” Morgana joined in her laughter, “He’s done it though. He’s shown me the entire performance and it’s better than any theatre troupe that Arthur could hire.”

“What does he do?” Gwen asked, leaning forward on the desk, “What kind of spells does he perform?”

Morgana tapped her nose, smiling to herself, “It’s a secret.”

Gwen sighed and rolled her eyes, though her smile gave away just how excited she was, “I bet Merlin must be terrified.”

“He is.” Morgana agreed, using her napkin to wipe the crumbs away from her mouth, “He’s been doubting himself over and over, Gaius has had to convince him countless times that he has the skill to do this. He even chickened out to me once, just yesterday. He came to me a few hours after Arthur had come and gone.”

“Merlin really doesn’t know how powerful he is.” Gwen shook her head, fondly, memories of her friend filling her head, “He’ll do fine. They’ll love him.”

“They’ll love him wether he messes up the show or not.” Morgana decided, “He just seems to have that way with everybody. Have you seen the way Queen Anis treats him, even when he was just seen as Arthur’s servant? She dotes on the boy almost as much as Gaius does, and she barely knows him.”

Gwen laughed and Morgana straightened in her chair, taking in as much of the melodic sound as she could, “He just seems to have that way with everyone. I’m not sure if it’s just talent or if it’s unintentional. He’s just… fun to be around. Like you can talk to him about your problems and he’s had the solution just sat there waiting for you.”

“Yes.” Morgana said wistfully, nodding to herself, “I can think of a few times that’s happened.”

“You mean when he suggested that you go to the druids for your magic?” Gwen asked, taking the tray away from Morgana and placing it on the side to be carried down to the kitchen later.

“Yes.” Morgana said, shifting in her chair, “I was terrified when he suggested it to me, but when I went I realised that magic wasn’t as evil as I was taught. If I hadn’t listened to Merlin, I would have come to hate myself. I owe it to him that I’m who I am today.”

“He’s changed so many people.” Gwen muttered to herself, shaking her head in disbelief, “He’s amazing.”

“He really is.” Morgana agreed, “Everyone seems to know that except him, no matter how many times Arthur tells him.”

“Or tries to tell him.” Gwen corrected her, “You know how scatter-brained he can be when it comes to Merlin.

“How could I forget?” Morgana smirked to herself, “Remember when he refused to go to the feast without Merlin by his side? He said it was because anyone else could poison his food and that he needed to be served by someone he absolutely trusted.”

“I do remember that!” Gwen giggled to herself, “He throws a little tantrum every time he doesn’t know where Merlin is.”

“And Merlin has a little panic attack every time he doesn’t know where Arthur is.” Morgana smiled to herself, “It’s a miracle the two took so long to admit their feelings to one another.”

“Yeah.” Gwen said as she picked up the tray, “I need to take this tray down to the kitchen, and then I’ll help cook down there. Do you mind if I leave.”

“Off course, you’re free to go.” Morgana beamed at her.

Gwen curtsied and left, leaving Morgana to wonder once more about her maid’s reaction when she gave her the dress.


	28. 28th December

“There.” Arthur sighed as he tossed his quill back onto the desk and leant back in his chair, “That’s all the paperwork done. Everyone is able to attend and all their conditions have been acknowledged and met.”

“That’s great!” Merlin gave a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, “And they don’t mind me performing at the feast? Do they even know?”

Arthur, knowing where this was going, rolled his eyes, “Yes, Merlin, I told them that my trusted advisor would be showcasing his magic as a form of entertainment at the feast. 

While some of them seemed rather tense in their words when they mentioned it in my letters, none of them outwardly rejected the idea.”

“Okay, that’s good…” Merlin muttered, unsure of himself, “I think…”

“You should have read Queen Anis’ letter.” Arthur remembered with a chuckle, “I lost count of how many times she’s called you a fool now.”

“She always has been your favourite.” Merlin’s smile was a lot more genuine now as Arthur returned his grin.

“You’re going to be fine Merlin.” Arthur reassured, “Honestly, it just goes to show how thick your skull is, refusing to accept that it’s going to go well even when I’ve said so a thousand times.”

“I know.” Merlin’s smile fell a little, “I’m worrying to much.”

“It’s perfectly natural, but stupid.” Arthur said, “Merlin, I’ve seen you hold your own against armies and other powerful sorcerers. There’s no way you’re going to make a mistake.”

“Gaius keeps saying that as well.”

“Well, if you’re not going to listen to me then you should listen to him.”

Merlin smiled as he folded his arms into his lap, trying to hide the fact that they were shaking, “Yeah.”

Arthur looked at the shaking hands that Merlin was trying and failing to hide and bit his lip. After a few seconds of silence that was full of both of them shifting awkwardly in their seats, Arthur finally stood up once an idea had occurred to him.

“Come here.” Arthur grinned, striding over to the window, “I’ve got something to show you.”

“The window?” Merlin asked, getting up dubiously, “What about it.”

“Well, Merlin, if you would come here like I just ordered you to then you wouldn’t need to ask that question, would you?” Arthur challenged. Merlin rolled his eyes and walked over.

“You’ve been cleaning the floors all morning.” Arthur explained as Merlin arrived, “So you haven’t had the chance to see this…”

When Merlin looked out of the window, he couldn’t help but gasp. There, in the market, was a sea of children, all playing with a variety of toys. Some were sitting under trees in their scarves and gloves while they read books, some were hustled in groups as they admired a particular toy, and their were screams and cries of joy and siblings and friends each took turns with another’s toy. Wherever Merlin looked, there were children with faces full of joy and eyes full of wonder.

“Your little experiment was a success.” Arthur smiled when he saw the amazement on Merlin’s face, “The children absolutely enjoyed whatever their parents got them, and believed in the fact that a sorcerer was the one who gave it to them.”

“They look so happy.” Merlin muttered, hardly believing what he was seeing.

“They are. This was your idea Merlin. If you can succeed in making Camelot’s children happy, then you can succeed in making some nobles happy as well.”

Merlin didn’t answer but instead smiled when Arthur put his arm around his waist and the two spent a comfortable silence watching the children play. When Merlin placed his head on Arthur’s shoulder, he pictured Arthur among them, and tried to imagine what Arthur had been like as a child.

“What toys did you play with when you were a child?” Merlin asked as he rubbed his cheek on Arthur’s shoulder.

Arthur frowned for a little before answering, “When I was 9 my father gave me my first real sword.”

Merlin lifted his head in surprise, “Seriously?”

Arthur nodded, “Started training then as well.”

Merlin blinked, surprised that he had never really thought about it before. Given how skilled he was with his sword now, Merlin supposed that he must have started at a really young age…

Merlin lowered his head back down to Arthur’s shoulder and have it a comforting nuzzle, “You’ve never mentioned that before.”

A few seconds silence before Arthur answered, “I’ve never really felt the need to before.”

“The need?” Merlin asked, rubbing his arm up and down Arthur’s back.

“I just… ever since you told me about you’re magic I’ve had this… want to know everything about you. I figured that you might want the same about me.” Arthur explained.

“Oh.” Merlin looked down, suddenly feeling guilty. Should he have been wondering about Arthur’s past more. He considered lying, but immediately discarded, “It’s never really occurred to me before. Learning more about your past. All I’ve ever considered is our future?”

When Arthur remained silent, Merlin started to panic a little, “Is that bad?” He asked, tilting his head.

After a small hum from Arthur, Merlin gave a sigh of relief when he shook his head, “No, I don’t think so. The past holds many battle wounds for both of us, so you might find it easier to just ignore them and carry on rather than dwell on them.”

“I guess.” Merlin bit his lip, then gave Arthur a kiss on the cheek as a way of apology, just in case he had done the wrong thing in not thinking about Arthur’s past.

“What about you?” Arthur murmured into Merlin’s hair as he rested his head on Merlin’s own, “What toys did you play with?”

“Um...” Merlin frowned, the question making him draw up on a blank, “The sheep.”

“The sheep?” Arthur smiled, “You played with the sheep?”

“Well, my mother couldn’t really afford anything for me to play with, and I had my magic to entertain myself with anyway.”

“And the sheep.” Arthur clarified.

“Yes… well. Once. Before I became frightened of them.”

“Frightened of them?” Arthur could feel a smile on his face at the anticipation of an answer to why Merlin had been afraid of Ealdor’s sheep as a child.

“I volunteered to herd the sheep out into the fields to graze once.” Merlin started, “So I used a herding spell and they followed me outside. However, whenever I tried to disenchant the spell, it wouldn’t work, only I didn’t know that. So I spent the entire day running around the village thinking that I was being chased by sheep, only to realise late into the afternoon that I hadn’t disenchanted the herding spell.”

Arthur laughed as Merlin continued on with his story.

“There wasn’t really any need for toys though. I had Will, and we mostly just used sticks in the wood, there was my magic and there were the sheep. I didn’t really need anything else.”

Arthur’s laughter died down as a thought occurred to him, “I never really got toys either. Even when I was a child.”

“What did you do as a kid? To help kill the time?”

“There wasn’t any time to kill.” Arthur sighed, “Even when I was a kid I was being herded from one lesson to another. When I wasn’t learning, I was either eating or sleeping.”

“Oh.” Merlin said, trying to imagine what that sort of childhood could have been like, “My mother only taught me what she could. When she’d done that, she spared every penny she could to get other villagers to teach me, but they stopped doing that when they learnt about my magic. I could only just read and write when I came to Camelot, but Gaius filled in the gaps of what I didn’t know.”

“That’s so strange.” Arthur muttered to himself as he caressed Merlin’s hair, “It never occurred to me whether you had gotten a proper education or not. I always just… assumed. I guess now I know why you’re such an idiot.”

“And now I know why you were so adamant about beating me in a fight.” Merlin said half in jest and half in anger, “Your father didn’t teach you any other way to resolve a conflict.”

“Yes.” Arthur agreed, “But I also just really wanted to beat you.”

“Well then that’s a shame, because I was definitely the one to beat you.”

“You did not.”

“Yes I did.”

“You were on the floor for half the fight.”

“You were tripping over your feet half the fight. Remind me why that was again?”

“You were cheating.”

“I was using my magic.”

“Same thing.”

“No it’s not!”

“And who was standing over who by the time our audience started cheering?”

“If Gaius hadn’t been there-“

“But he was, and that means I win.”

“I would have won though.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I could still beat you.”

Arthur’s eyes grew dark at the prospect of a challenge, “Is that so?”

Merlin wrapped his arms around Arthur and pulled him closer, “You’ve been putting a lot of effort into the paperwork lately. Sure you haven’t gotten a little rusty.”

“I never get rusty.” Arthur scoffed, “Why don’t I prove it?”

Merlin smirked, “Lead the way, Sire.”

Grabbing his sword, Arthur grabbed Merlin’s hand and practically dragged him towards the training field, grinning all the way.


	29. 29th December

“Morgana?” Morgana paused and turned around when she heard Merlin’s voice calling for her from behind.

“Merlin.” Morgana smiled as Merlin jogged up to meet her, “Do you need something?”

“Oh.” Merlin, blinked, not really anticipating the question, “Not really… I just wanted to talk… with you.”

“Oh. Of course.” Morgana shook her head slightly, not quite used to the fact that Merlin was… well, Merlin. Growing up in the word of royalties and nobles, Morgana had learnt that everybody wanted something from someone, and had come to assume that people always talked to her to get to Uther or, now that Uther was gone, to Arthur. But off course, Merlin, being Merlin, had cast aside that unspoken rule and had seeked Morgana out purely for the purpose of talking to her, something that Morgana wasn’t entirely used to, 

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Um… nothing.” The strange question had thrown Merlin completely of guard. He knew that Morgana was usually only social because she had to adapt to the lethal eyes and opinions of the nobility, but he never really considered that she might be as socially inept as Arthur when she lacked an agenda, “I just wanted to walk with you… keep you company?”

Morgana was used to Gwen keeping her company and chatting to her while she carried on with her chores and, due to Arthur’s constant complaining, she knew that Merlin constantly talked to Arthur while he was doing chores as well. However, Morgana only ever really engaged in conversation with Merlin when it was about Aithusa or magic, to engage in a casual conversation with him was… strange, especially in the rare moments when she wasn’t the one who started the conversation.

The dilemma caused an awkward silence to befall the two, and Morgana quickly broke eye contact, unintentionally speeding up at the idea of a problem that she didn’t know the answer to.

“So, um…” Finding something to talk about had now become a challenge. And Morgana never backed down from a challenge, “How’s Aithusa?”

“She’s doing well.” Merlin smiled, relieved that they had finally started talking, “She managed to steal all of my porridge when I wasn’t looking this morning.”

“Oh.” Morgana frowned, “And how did that happen?”

“She’s getting more and more cunning. She knocked one of Gaius’ potions to the ground, and then when I was cleaning up the mess she ate what she could, which was all of it, and vanished.”

Morgana laughed, “When was she?”

“I don’t know.” Merlin frowned, “She hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Oh.” Morgana’s eyebrows knitted in concern, “And you wanted my help to look for her?”

“No, no.” Merlin shook his head, “She’s only scared because she’s worried that I might scold her. She’ll turn up. Besides, she’s growing now. It would do her well to have some time on her own and not be constantly coddled.”

“You don’t think she’ll find some trouble somewhere?” Morgana asked, “You know what she’s like.”

“I do.” Merlin laughed, “But she’s a baby, she’s not going to do anything drastic. All I can imagine she’ll do is steal something from the kitchen, and haven’t we all done that before?”

Morgana hadn’t, since whenever she was hungry she could always just go down to the kitchen and get it herself. However, she had heard many a story of Merlin and the knights sneaking down into the kitchens to steal food whenever the cook wasn’t looking.

“Well, when it comes to Aithusa, she might not even have to steal at all. One look from those puppy eyes and she could get the entire Winter Yule feast if she wanted to.” Morgana joked, gradually becoming more and more comfortable now that they had settled in on a subject.

Merlin laughed, and Morgana could tell that the awkward atmosphere was shifting for him to, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s found an archway somewhere behind a tapestry and is helping herself to some cheese.”

Morgana frowned, “You feed Aithusa cheese?”

“No, I don’t.” Merlin sighed, “She steals it. She steals everything. I don’t even know what she’s eaten and what she hasn’t eaten anymore. She just vacuums it all up. I can’t keep up with her.”

“What’s her diet like?”

“I don’t know?” Merlin bit his lip, “She just eats stuff behind my back. Whenever I feed her, I stick to the diet, bit who knows what else she’s eaten! I think if she ever does encounter something that’s bad for her she’d just turn her nose up at it.”

“Yes.” Morgana answered as she turned to him, “Remember when we were on that ride and Aithusa turned her nose up at some poisonous mushrooms?”

“Oh yeah! I almost had a heart attack.” Merlin recalled.

“Well, it just goes to show that Aithusa can take care of herself. She knows what she’s eating. Besides, she’s growing, so she probably won’t eat as much when she gets older.”

“I think you’re right.” Merlin nodded. After a few seconds of only their footsteps, Merlin spoke up again, “Do you think we’re being soft on her?”

Morgana raised her eyebrow, “We’re?”

“Yes, alright, me.” Merlin corrected, “Do you think I’m being too soft on her?”

Morgana hummed as she contemplated her answer, “Yes. I do.”

When Morgana looked over to Merlin, she saw that he was nodding thoughtfully, “But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.” She continued.

He looked at her, “You don’t?”

“No. I think that a baby should be given love, and coddling her only proves that you love her, Merlin. She has Kilgharrah teaching her how to be a dragon in the wild, and in here she has you giving her space and letting her explore the castle and discovering things on her own.”

“You don’t think she’s going to poison herself because of me?” Merlin asked, “I’ve tried going to Kilgharrah about the problem, but all he said was that a healthy appetite leads to a healthy mind, and I’ve no idea what that means.”

Morgana laughed, but quickly grew serious as she thought up her answer, “I don’t think she’s going to put herself at risk, Merlin. She’s a smart kid, she knows what’s good for her and what isn’t. She’s going to be fine.”

Merlin sighed, but accepted her answer, “I think you’re right.” He said, “I just… have doubts, that’s all.”

“Having doubts just shows that you care for her.” Morgana told him, “You just need to give her a little space, that’s all.”

“But she’s not going to do anything reckless is she?” Merlin frowned as he voiced his doubts, “I’m all for stealing from the kitchen but… Flying away into the forest? Attacking one of the knights? What if she isn’t ready to be on her own, Morgana?”

“She’ll be fine.” Morgana patiently reminded him, “It’s only going to be for a few hours. Besides, you know how short Aithusa’s attention span is. Before you know it, she’ll be getting bored and coming straight back to you in no time.”

“You think?” Merlin frowned, “I’ve been annoying her quite a lot lately.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Morgana said, “Merlin, what you don’t seem to realise is how much people care for you.”

Merlin looked at her strangely, “People?”

“Well, it seems to be a running theme. First, you fail to pick up on how Arthur looked at you and he practically had to spell out his feelings to you before you got the gist, and now you’re failing to realise just how attached Aithusa is to you. She can barely spend hours away from you before she gets impatient.”

Merlin turned towards her, dubious, “Really?”

“Yes! Whenever she’s with me I take care of her for a few hours and then she starts scratching at the door and making noises, wanting to be let out. When I do let her out she goes straight to your room and starts looking for you.”

“Oh.” Merlin said. Morgana smirked when she saw the blush rise to his cheeks, “Why have you never told me about that.”

“I figured it would make you want to stay in your rooms more often to keep a look out for Aithusa.” Morgana answered, “And you don’t really need any more excuses to avoid doing your chores.”

“I guess not.” Merlin smiled, “But thanks for the reassurances, Morgana, they’ve really helped.”

“No problem.” Morgana smiled. Then, when an idea came to her, the smile grew wider, “Actually, could you do something for me? It’ll only take a second.”

“Sure.” Merlin nodded, “What do you want?”

“Well, you know how you and Arthur’s gift tradition went down successfully? It made me want to get a gift for Gwen.”

Merlin gasped, a grin spreading wide across his face, “And you want to ask my opinion of it?”

When Morgana nodded, Merlin’s smile grew even wider, “Lead the way!”

As Morgana led Merlin to her room, Merlin wondered what Morgana could have possibly gotten for Gwen, and if this had anything to do with the way Morgana looked at Gwen during feasts.


	30. 30th December

“Okay okay okay okay okay okay okay…” Merlin muttered to himself as servants rushed by him, very much muttering the same thing, “Cleaned Arthur’s clothes, now wash his armour, sharpen his sword, have a short nap while he yells a bit, clean his clothes again just to make sure…”

There were only a few short hours left before the first noble arrived. It had been earlier this morning when a scout arrived reporting that Queen Anis had just crossed the border.  
Ever since then, no matter how much the entire kingdom had spent the entire month preparing for this moment, it had been pandemonium. Every single corridor had at least two servants rushing down it at all times, all screaming and yelling orders at one another while they figured out who was doing what. Merlin had already been shouted at by Arthur a grand total of five times, which was on the brink of a new record. With all the prattishness he’d had to endure in the last few hours, Merlin was very tempted to break it just to see what would happen.

When he barged into Arthur’s room carrying Arthur’s clean clothes, he wasn’t surprised when he saw Arthur and some of the newly recruited knights talking to each other.

“I want you to stand guard during the feast.” Arthur ordered, “There will be shifts throughout the night and you all know your stations. You all know what you’re doing?”

“Yes, Sire!” The knights chorused.

“Then you’re dismissed. Clean yourselves up, make sure your armour is in working order, we meet Queen Anis on the steps to the castle in a few hours.”

After a curt salute, the knights all filed out of the room, Merlin watching them go.

“I suppose you have other things to do beside gawk at my knights, Merlin?” Arthur’s impatient tone had Merlin snapping back to reality and turning to him.

“And don’t you have something better to do then shout at your servant?” Merlin shot back as he tried to fold a shirt. When the result was a wonky lump of cloth, he gave up and chucked it in.

“I don’t when my servant is, as usual, being bad at his job.” Arthur said, taking the shirt back out and folding it correctly.

“Look at that.” Merlin said in mock awe, “Looks like you are good at something.”

Arthur rolled his eyes and placed the shirt in the wardrobe, “Use your magic from now on, we don’t have time for this. Queen Anis will be here in a few short hours.”

“Yes. You’ve said. Multiple times.” Merlin groaned as the clothes quickly sorted themselves out via magic.

“Did I also mention that some of them are going to be arriving this evening? And tomorrow morning as well? We’re going to have our hands full for the next few days, Merlin.” Arthur sighed as he flopped into his chair.

“You’re going to do fine, Sire.” Merlin could spot Arthur’s insecurities from a mile away, “You know how fond Queen Anis is of you. She’s not going to mind a few slip-ups.”

“And the others?”

“Well… we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You’re greeting nobles, Arthur, it’s nothing that you haven’t done before.”

“You’re right, as usual.” Arthur frowned, “I just… wish my father was here.”

Merlin paused, but was careful not to show any emotion. Merlin’s magic, however, had no such control, and immediately dropped the shirts that it was folding. When Arthur noticed this, he realised what he had said and flinched, “Sorry.” He said, clearing his throat.

“No.” Merlin shook his head, picking them up by hand, “You wish that your father was here because it’s your first time holding a feast as big as this. I get it, Arthur.”

“But-“

“Uther was your father, Arthur, and just because he treated sorcerers horribly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t love him. Yes, he had problems, but he was your father, you don’t need to walk on eggshells when mentioning him around me.”

“Sorry.” Arthur apologised again, a little more heartfelt this time. Once Merlin had checked to see if his magic was back in working order again, he turned to face Arthur.

“And stop apologising. It’s weird.”

“I mean it!” Arthur shouted, “Can’t you just accept my apology? Can’t you just do as your told? For once? Why are you being so… nice?”

Merlin paused, looking at Arthur strangely, “What do you mean?”

“You’re always so nice! And kind and selfless and perfect… and…”

“Are you yelling at me for being a good servant?” Merlin asked, a hint of a smirk on his face.

“Stop joking.” Arthur said in a tone that immediately made Merlin shut up, “You’re a sorcerer and you’ve been treated horribly by my father, by myself and everyone else and yet you’re still… so…” Arthur sighed and collapsed into his chair, “I just don’t get how you can be so forgiving of him, that’s all.”

“Still haven’t figured me out yet?” Merlin smiled. When Arthur didn’t react to the joke, Merlin’s smile fell as he grew more serious, “Arthur, your father did some horrible things to sorcerers and raised you to believe that those kinds of methods were the right thing to do. Now that you see differently, you disagree with those methods, but he’s still your father, and you still have a right to love him for it. Just… maybe not mention him around other sorcerers.”

“And you?” Arthur spoke, lifting his head up, “What do you think?”

Merlin, not expecting the question, stepped back a little. The shirts shuddered in the air a little bit before his magic continued to fold them, “I don’t think I…”

“I want to hear what you have to say, Merlin.” Arthur interrupted, “You don’t usually have a problem expressing your opinion, so why should you have trouble now?”

With the lie on the tip of his tongue, Merlin quickly reminded himself of his promise before speaking, “I didn’t like him. I couldn’t. He was a hypocrite, a liar, he mistreated and manipulated both you and Morgana and killed thousands of sorcerers…”

Merlin caught himself after that, a thousand more reasons that justified his hatred gathering on his tongue. He stayed silent though and instead watched Arthur for his reaction. When the King gave nothing away, Merlin said, “But there is one thing I like him for.”

Arthur looked up at him hopefully, “And what’s that?”

Merlin bit his lip, “Well, Uther always thought that his greatest accomplishment was the Great Purge. I always thought it was his son.” 

Arthur smiled at that, and Merlin couldn’t help but grin in response.

“Are you using flattery to try and skip out on work?” Arthur criticised, but the beaming smile on his face gave him away immediately.

“Off course not, Sire.” Merlin shrugged, going along with it, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“You’re as stupid as you are useless if you think I’m going to fall for that trick. Go on, get out of here and carry on with your chores.”

“Yes, Sire.” Merlin finished with the shirts and turned to leave the room, but not before he saw the blush that had been rising up Arthur’s cheeks for the past few minutes. Smiling to himself, Merlin left the room.

O=II==========>

On the steps of the palace, Arthur waited impatiently, tapping his foot.

“Where is that idiot?” Arthur mumbled to himself, looking on either side on his shoulder, expecting Merlin to come tumbling down the steps in his new robes any minute.

He had been standing there for the past ten minutes now, waiting the arrival of Queen Anis. Joining him within those few minutes had been the knights that had been assigned guard duty throughout the feast. Merlin was also supposed to accompany him in the ceremonial Court Sorcerer robes that he would be wearing in a few months, though off course, he was late.

When the trumpets blared and Merlin still wasn’t beside him, Arthur started panicking. Fighting to keep a straight face though, he forced himself to have a straight back and a polite smile as Queen Anis’ carriage and her entourage came into view.

“Queen Anis!” Arthur strolled down the steps and went to help Queen Anis off her horse, “It’s a pleasure to meet you again.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Your majesty.” Queen Anis smiled down at him as she dismounted, “Although, in your letter, didn’t you say that your soon-to-be Court Sorcerer was going to be accompanying you?”

“Ah. Yes. Well-“

“Sorry I’m late!”

Wondering about all the possible ways he could punish his idiot servant without being dragged down into the dungeons, Arthur watched with a plastic smile on his face as Merlin, dressed in his new Court Sorcerer robes, raced down the steps.

“Sorry I’m late, Arthur.” Merlin apologised as he raced past Queen Anis entirely and went directly to his King’s side, “It’s just the clothes are way to big and itchy and- oh.”

When he turned around, his eyes widened when he saw the patient figure of Queen Anis standing there, “Hello.” He greeted, completely forgetting royal protocol.

“Hello to you too, old fool.” Queen Anis smiled, ignoring Arthur’s sheer look of panic in the background, “Or should I say Court Sorcerer, now?”

“Well, not just yet.” Merlin grinned back, entirely unaware of Arthur’s inner crisis, “In a few months though. But for tonight I hope to impress, My lady.”

“You’ve already put on quite the performance, I must say.” She chuckled, “Would you care to guide me to my rooms? I understand you’re still a servant.”

“Off course, right this way, My lady.” Merlin gestured to the castle with his hand and the two were off, leaving Arthur alone and shocked, wondering what in the hell had just happened.


	31. 31st December

After days of anticipating this moments, after weeks of work and nerves and sweat, the day had finally arrived. For all the servants, they could finally relax slightly as they witnessed the fruits of their labour. For Arthur, he could relax and to talk to Queen Anis and King Olaf, who he had placed near him because he got along with those two the best out of all the visiting nobles. For Morgana, she had finally finished the dress, and was just waiting for the right moment to present it. As Merlin looked around the hall over the sea of grinning faces, he felt like the only one who was nervous was him.

“You have nothing to worry about.” Arthur told him for the thousandth time as they held hands under the table, “You’re going to be amazing.”

Merlin watched anxiously as more and more food was brought out. When the tables were full, Arthur would stand up and announce his Court Sorcerer as the entertainment for the evening, not that everybody knew by now, and were casting curious glances at him that made him want to sink further back into his seat. Instead, he rocked back and forth in his chair. He knew every spell of by heart. He had gone over everything over and over again. Now if he could get everything to work…

“Merlin.” Arthur brought him out of his thoughts, “People can see you panicking from a mile away. You need to stop.”

“Stop panicking?” Merlin said incredulously, fighting to keep his voice down as well as going a pitch higher, “I’ll just take a deep breath, shall I, Sire?”

“You know what I mean.” Arthur rolled his eyes, “Now talk to someone, otherwise the nobles are going to think you’re mute as well as dumb.”

Merlin gulped but didn’t answer as Arthur turned back to his conversation with King Olaf. When Merlin squeezed Arthur’s hand, however, Arthur didn’t hesitate to squeeze back.

“You know...” Merlin turned to hear the voice of Queen Anis beside him, “My father once told me a story that reminds me of you. Would you like me to tell it to you?”

Unaware of where this was going, Merlin nodded, thinking it was better than stressing himself for the next ten minutes. 

Seeing his nod, Queen Anis continued, “Well, it focused on this young bird… let’s call it a Merlin, shall we? Anyway, this Merlin was an eager young bird who flew around day after day, full of energy and never ever stopping. When other birds would tell it to slow down, the Merlin would say that he couldn’t, because he one day dreamed of flying in the sky. The other birds laughed at them, but the little Merlin paid them no heed. He just kept on flying.”

“Okay.” Merlin smiled his thanks at a maid who was placing a selection of foods on their table, “Where is this going?”

“Keep quiet and I’ll tell you.” Queen Anis told him patiently, to which Merlin shut up, “Anyway, one day the little Merlin met a dragon. A dragon that was famous for travelling the world through its enormous skies. The Merlin, very excited to meet the dragon, asked it if it would ever be able to fly in the sky like the dragon did. The dragon laughed, like all the other birds did, and said to the Merlin that it was already in the sky. The Merlin, taken aback from having been living the dream for so long answered ‘that’s it?’ and the dragon told him to make the most of it before he flew off.”

“That’s it?” Merlin frowned.

“Problem?” Queen Anis said as her servant poured her some wine.

“No.” Merlin said as he did his own and Arthur’s out of habit, “I was just expecting… a better ending, I guess.”

“Well, most stories don’t even have endings.” Queen Anis shrugged, “Yours doesn’t have an ending, neither does mine…”

“Is there a point to all this?” Merlin asked, regretting the slight impatience that was sneaking into his tone. Before he could apologise though, Queen Anis laughed.

“The point is that you have to make the most of it.” She chuckled, “Arthur told me last night that you have been stressing yourself silly over this performance, but there’s honestly no need for it.”

Merlin, only just holding his tongue, silently urged for her to continue.

“You’ve tricked yourself into thinking that this performance, while it is important, could alter your life somehow. However, after you finish it, perfect or not, while you may feel some adrenaline afterwards, by tomorrow you’re just going to feel like you again.”

“I guess.” Merlin said, slowly starting to see where she was getting.

“Even if you do mess up, Merlin, there’s always going to be another chance to impress old fools like us. Your fears have made you believe that it has to be perfect, but I’m going to tell you now that is not that case. Go out there and do your best. Mistakes aren’t going to stop Camelot from admiring you and they’re certainly not going to stop Arthur from loving you.”

“You’re right.” Merlin smiled, holding tighter onto Arthur’s hand, “I really needed to hear that. Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” Queen Anis smirked, “Just make sure you don’t set the palace on fire, alright? I know first hand how clumsy you can be.”

“Merlin?” Merlin turned to see Arthur waiting for him, “Are you ready?”

Merlin took one last look at the hall and the anxious glances and the ready tables before turning back to Arthur, “Yeah.”

Not letting go of Merlin’s hand, Arthur stood up. Immediately the conversation in the room died, all eyes on him in a matter of seconds.

“Ladies and Gentlemen.” Arthur greeted the hall in a manner very similar to his father’s, “I’m delighted that you could all make it this evening, and honoured to be in your presence. As you all know, this is my first time hosting a feast of this proportions, and so I thank you all for your patience and for the encouragement that was found in your letters. As you know, one of the topics of this feast that have been greatly anticipated has been Camelot’s attitude towards magic. To stem the flow of rumours, I would like to confirm that we are welcoming towards magic and all that practice the art. I am aware that some of you here tonight are still wary of magic, and still believe it to be corrupt in some way.”

There are some murmurings in the hall. Merlin’s nerves turn into embarrassment for a brief second, and he can’t help but flush and look down. Seeing this in his peripherals, Arthur squeezed his hand and moved on.

“To address this problem, my manservant Merlin, who will be granted the title Court Sorcerer in a few months, is willing to perform his magic tonight to show that magic is a tool, created evil only by a person’s will. While we’re not expecting this performance to open eyes to any epiphanies, we do ask that you think about what you see tonight and consider the true intentions of sorcerers.”

With that, Arthur thanked his audience and sat back down, with a final intake of breath, Merlin let go of Arthur’s hand and rose, almost tripping over the leg of his chair as he made his way to the centre of the room.

As the rest of the room grew quiet, Merlin closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were a solid fierce gold.

Muttering the spell that he had been practicing for over a month now, Merlin immediately felt his adrenaline mix with his magic as butterflies of all shapes and sizes appeared out of thin air. Upon Merlin’s command they flew around the room and formed shapes that, to Merlin’s delight, earned gasps and applause from the onlookers. When Merlin dared look, he found that most people in the audience were looking at the butterflies with awe and bewilderment on their faces, as if they were enchanted themselves. However, in his peripherals, Merlin could see some blatant frowns and disapproving shakes of the head. Merlin quickly pushed them out of his head, knowing it’ll only lead to disaster and focused on the butterfly swarm that was now forming the shape of a dragon.

After five or so minutes of butterflies performing tricks and stunts in the air, Merlin snapped his fingers and the butterflies dispersed. Instead of disappearing though, the butterflies flew to one guest of the choosing, landing on their heads. Many of the guests welcomed their new friend with little strokes of the wing, but others started shooing them away the moment they got to close. After everyone had finished greeting their new companion, the hall burst into applause.

After the applause had died down, Merlin looked up and started shouting in draconic, to the surprise of many in the audience, who had believed the dragonlords to be long gone. When the gold had died down in Merlin’s eyes and nothing happened, all audience members followed Merlin’s gaze up to the ceiling, where banners were hanging down.  
It wasn’t long before a small white head peeked out from behind the banner and stretched her wings. Drinking in the gasps of amazement that were rippling around the crowd, she leapt from the alcove and, with a loop-the-loop purely to show off, she landed neatly on Merlin’s outstretched arm.

Enjoying the applause and the attention far more than she should have been doing, Aithusa puffed out her chest and sat up straight, intensely smug only after five seconds after her performance.

“Okay Aithusa.” Merlin whispered to her, which was enough to snap her out of it, “Ready for the first trick?”

When the gawking over the baby dragon was over and done with, Merlin’s eyes glowed gold once more and people leant back slightly as every single lit candle in the room had their flame taken of them.

“Ready?” Merlin whispered again. Aithusa, her eyes darting to each off the candle flames, gave a small purr of determination in her voice.

“Go!” Merlin shouted, throwing Aithusa into the air. Immediately, Aithusa made for the nearest levitating candle flame and stepped on it, the flame unable to harm her because of her dragon scales. As soon as she had leapt of the candle flame onto the next, Merlin used his magic to make the candle flame explode into a firework, forming the Pendragon crest before fading into nothing.

On and on Aithusa went, leaping from one candle flame to the next, all of them exploding into a firework in her wake. The sparks, colourful and harmless, rained down onto the audience, who were to busy staring at Aithusa to notice. After leaping from every candle flame that had been levitating in the air, Aithusa jumped of the final one and landed back on Merlin’s outstretched arm. As soon as she’d done so, she tilted her head back and breathed out as much fire as she could. Then, she felt the fire being taken from her and Merlin manipulated it to form the Pendragon’s crest once more before that to became a firework.

The audience were getting eager for more now. The knights had been shouting themselves horse all evening and Gwaine was already drunk enough to be shouting inappropriate comments. Knowing that she was done for now, Aithusa crawled her way up to Merlin’s shoulder so that Merlin could use both of his arms.

Next, Merlin took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he muttered the spell he had learnt of by heart over and over again under his breath until he could feel shouts of surprise all around the room. Slowly, he could see that all the wine that had been in the room was slowly lifting out of their glasses and pitchers, to the objections of some people. Merlin ignored them and continued lifting the wine out of their respective glass. Slowly, drop by drop, he guided all the wine into the centre of the room to create one big bubble. While it was impressive, Merlin could understand that, when looking around the room, he could see glances of apprehension and doubt.

Now, here’s the thing – Merlin had heard Arthur complain for days on end that in their letters, everyone had asked for a specific type of wine, fruited, mulled or otherwise. Merlin had joked that the nobles only had a preference to look posh, and wouldn’t actually be able to tell the difference between one drink or another. While it hadn’t succeeded in making Arthur feel any better, it had given Merlin a new idea for his performance.

Ignoring the protests of the others, Merlin mixed all the wines together until they formed one big bubble in the centre of the room. Merlin had hoped that if he wasn’t able to get the approval of the nobles through magic, then he may be able to get it through their stomachs. After moving the gigantic bubble of wine around the room and making it clear to the audience that he was mixing the liquids, he then separated them all into tinier bubbles, making obvious that each bubble was meant for one glass.

After the bubble of liquid had made it safely back into a glass, Merlin turned to Gwaine, “Could you take a sip of your drink, please?”

“Do you even need to ask me?” Gwaine asked as he grabbed his cup and downed the lot, not caring if it was an amalgamation of flavours. When he finished and lowered the cup, Merlin grinned at the frown on Gwaine’s face, “It tastes exactly the same!”

There were several more exclamations as other nobles tried their own respective drinks, only to find that, even after all the mixing the wine had gone through, Merlin had still been able to filter them all back to their original owners. When the audience members had understood what he’d done, they burst into even more applause.

“Ready?” Merlin asked Aithusa once more. With a flap of her wings, Aithusa steadied herself back onto Merlin’s outstretched arm again.

“Go!” Merlin shouted as he launched Aithusa up into the air for the second time that evening. This time, Aithusa dove for the red banner that was hanging down in the middle of the hall and grabbed it with her tiny jaws. While Aithusa’s weight alone wasn’t enough to tear the banner down, Merlin’s magic quickly snapped the strings that kept it suspended, and Aithusa quickly dragged it back towards her master. Once the banner had been safely delivered into Merlin’s hands, Aithusa crawled onto his head and sat there, believing that she had managed to tear down that massive banner all by herself. Not caring to tell her otherwise, Merlin let her bathe in the applause while he took the banner apart. With their mouths hanging open, the audience watched in horror as Merlin stripped the banner and used magic to reduce it to ribbons. Once he had done, Merlin scattered the ribbons around the room and levitated them in the air, letting them float. When Aithusa recognised that as her que, she hopped back down onto Merlin’s outstretched arm.

“Ready Aithusa?” Merlin asked as he bent his arm slightly, “Go!”

Launched for the third and final time, Aithusa flew amongst the ribbons of large red cloth that were breezing by like clouds. It wasn’t long however before they started moving, manipulated by Merlin’s magic.

Immediately, Aithusa was forced into action. She dipped, dived and zipped her way across the room, avoiding the makeshift obstacle course at all costs. Each piece of cloth moved in an unpredictable pattern, all that she was able to avoid with a swift flap of her wings. She raced along the tables, she hopped onto heads and burned a few pieces of cloth, all which Merlin mended. She twisted and turned and weaved between people before using the cloth as a springboard and leaping across each one. To the people below, she was a white blur who raced from one obstacle to the next. After ten minutes or so, when Aithusa finally started to feel tired, she dove back into Merlin’s arms, who hugged her back just as enthusiastically as the crowd burst into applause.

With Aithusa comfortably back on his shoulders, Merlin stopped the cloth’s movements and, to the amazement of the crowd, stitched the banner back together and placed it unharmed back on the ceiling. As Merlin and Aithusa bowed, nobles that have never spared him a second glance stood up and whistled. The knights were screaming, Gwaine was throwing roses at him and Arthur had never looked more proud.

When Merlin had returned to his seat with a sigh, Arthur gave his guests permission to start eating.

“It seems that juggling isn’t your only talent.” Queen Anis smiled as she loaded her plate with food. Merlin laughed, only to then laugh harder as Aithusa snatched a pork pie out of Arthur’s hands.

O=II==========>

“That was quite the show, wasn’t it?” Gwen asked Morgana a few hours later, “I didn’t know Merlin could do… that. I mean, I’ve only ever seen him use his magic to protect Arthur.”

“Same here.” Morgana agreed as she collapsed onto her bed, grateful for the moment of silence, “While I do think party tricks are beneath him, it was nice to see Merlin enjoying himself at a feast for once.” 

“I do as well.” Gwen smiled, “I’m glad that he’s finally happy.”

Giving a small hum of agreement, Morgana finally sucked up her courage and sat up, “Gwen, there’s been something I’ve been meaning to give you.”

Gwen turned, “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I have a present.” Morgana said, panicking slightly as the words that she had rehearsed slowly left her mind.

“A gift? For me?” Gwen whirled on her, the wash rag slapping at her wrist, “Morgana you shouldn’t have, you-“

“Gwen, I wanted to get you a gift, so I did.” Morgana blurted, only to then purse her lips, “Gods, listen to me, I sound like Arthur. Just… here. I wanted to give you this.”

Blinking in surprise, Gwen could only watch as Morgana pulled out a beautiful purple dress that was lined with golden thread.

“If you’re wondering why it looks similar to Merlin’s new neckerchief…” Morgana started, her insecurities getting the better of her, “Just know that it was my idea before Arthur’s. The dress took me longer to work on and Arthur totally stole my idea, just so you know-“

“Morgana, it’s beautiful.” Gwen breathed, stroking the silk, “It must have cost you a fortune…!”

“No. Not quite.” Morgana coughed, feeling very awkward all of a sudden, “I made it.”

“Then those things you bought at the market…”

“I made this dress with them, Gwen. And it’s all for you.”

“Morgana!” Gwen blushed, unsure of what to say, “Do you mind if I try it on!”

“Off course!” Morgana quickly gave Gwen the dress and shooed her behind the screen, the two of them laughing with how happy they were. As Gwen got herself comfortable behind the screen, Morgana cautiously approached her drawer. Slowly, she pulled out the top one and reached for the mistletoe that had been there for about a month.

When Gwen stepped out in her new dress, Morgana was waiting for her, holding the mistletoe in the air. Gwen, not needing to be told twice, took two strides towards her and leapt into Morgana’s arms, allowing herself to be pulled into a kiss that she’d been waiting years for.

O=II==========>

Merlin snuggled up closer to Arthur, letting Arthur guide his head so that it was using the King’s chest as a pillow. Across the room, of he strained his ears, he could hear Aithusa snoring softly in Arthur’s favourite chair.

“You were amazing out there.” Arthur whispered softly to him as he stroked Merlin’s hair.

“Thank you.”

“I mean it.” Arthur kissed his forehead, “I was expecting something amazing, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t expecting… that.”

“I don’t think anyone was.” Merlin smiled, allowing himself to be proud of himself just this once.

“You really are full of surprises, Merlin.” Arthur yawned as he shifted his head to get more comfortable, “I can’t recall a single noble who wasn’t grinning once you were done.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re going to change their mind about magic, though.” Merlin sighed.

“No.” Arthur agreed, “But I suppose baby steps are better than nothing.”

Merlin hummed in agreement, kissing Arthur’s chest, “Go to sleep.” He chuckled after Arthur had yawned a second time.

When Arthur had finally fallen asleep, Merlin drew circles on his chest, thinking about what had happened a few hours ago.

He found that, during the feast, what Queen Anis had said was true. After a few minutes of adrenaline after the performance, the nobles just went back to their normal conversations with their friends. After a few compliments, Merlin gradually felt himself calm down and feel like himself again. While he was eating and talking to Queen Anis, he realised that these performances, convincing nobles that magic wasn’t bad, was probably going to become a past time for him, and that he shouldn’t be getting so worked up about them. 

His new life as a Court Sorcerer was only a few months away, and Merlin was going to make sure that every second of it was filled to the brim with magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EYYY WE DID IT!!!
> 
> Happy New Year's Eve everyone! Here's to the new year!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> Watch me ruin my life as I trust my awful impulses and plunge into a fic headfirst despite having no ideas what to do for it.
> 
> This is just to tell you that this is a writing challenge that I invented to try and keep myself busy during lockdown (despite college exams breathing down my neck but shhh) 
> 
> Also you've probably noticed that this universe makes no sense, since Morgana is still a ward and Aithusa is a thing and Arthur's king for some reason, relaxxx. This is purely self-indulgent, which means I do whatever the hell I want. If you like what you see, feel free to join the ride.
> 
> The main idea of the challenge is that I'm going to try and write one 3000+ word chapter every day for the month of December. I have no idea if I'm going to succeed or not, so this is going to be fun.
> 
> If you've liked what you read so far, then feel free to keep tuned! If all goes well, we should have a 31-chapter fic full of fluffy Christmas goodness by the end of the month.
> 
> If you liked my writing (thank you) I've also got two other works, Tournament of Magic (complete) and The Witching Hour (In progress, but not on hold, despite the shitty schedule) that you could check out. It'd be appreciated!
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


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